Area 88: The Return of the Razgriz
by KnighteWolfe
Summary: A preview of this chapter. Its not finished yet. Just wanted to let y'all know that it hasn't been abandoned.
1. The Request

Ladies and Gentlemen, I bring you a new work of

fanfiction from _Knightewolfe Productions_.

This story is about feats of aerial daring do.

It's also a crossover of the anime Area 88 and the

PS2 game Ace Combat 5: _The Unsung War_.

Knightewolfe presents:

**Disclaimer: Area 88 and Ace Combat 4, The Unsung war **

**belong to their respective creators. **

_**Area 88**_

_**Return of the Razgriz**_

_**Chapter 1: **_

_**The Request**_

**2338 Hours. Royal Asranian Air Force Base Area 88**

Colonel Saki Vashtal, Prince of the Asranian Royal Family and head of its mercenary air force sat back in his chair and looked out his window at an airfield in the middle of the desert and had no roads leading to or from it. Taking a deep breath and inhaling the dry desert air, he relaxed for a short bit. Whether it was day or night, he loved the desert with all of his heart. With his long black hair and aviator style sunglasses, Saki looked every bit the scion of a rich and powerful family. The only aberration to the image was the fact that the prince was dressed in army fatigues and had a yellow ascot around his neck.

Turning his attention to the other occupants of the office, Saki wished more than ever that his old friend and confidant, Roundell, had survived the attack on the rebel base many years previous. Unfortunately, the one-eyed fighter pilot and his treasured old Buccaneer fighter hadn't made it back after dropping his bombs on target.

Looking at the only female in the room, his cousin Kitori Palvanoff, nicknamed 'The Virgin Baroness', Saki frowned as he remembered Kitori's delight upon learning what name she had been tagged with. Like most of the male members of their extended family, Saki despised the fact that Kitori was doing what was basically considered man's work. Unlike most of his family, he didn't mind Kitori's choice of profession. On many occasions' the decorated pilot had helped turn the tide of battle against the rebels. On her way to Area 88 to sign up with her cousin's Mercenary Air Force; Kitori had saved the life of a young Harrier pilot named Kim.

Saki sighed as he remembered the effect the tall, lithe, voluptuous desert princess had had on his pilots at the time. Only three of his aces had remained immune to her charms: the young Indian Kim, the American Tomcat pilot Mickey Simon, and the Japanese pilot with the dreaded Flaming Unicorn emblem on the tail of his Chance-Vought F-8E Crusader and then later his F-5E Tiger II, Shin Kazama.

"Kitori, tell me again what happened.", asked Saki in a calm, and quiet voice.

"Dammit, Saki, I've related the story several times already! I was on my way back from the capital with those dispatches that you requested when I got bounced by a flight of rebel MiG-21bis fighters. Right away I knew that these pilots were different from the usual rebel pilot scum. They were unusually aggressive and jumped right in when I turned nose hot to engage. Usually, the moment I go nose hot, at least half the enemy flight will turn tail and run. Not these guys, they stayed to fight. I was able to dust two of them with missile shots but that made the rest even more aggressive. One launched a heat seeker at me but I avoided it, unfortunately as I turned to defeat the missile I blundered head on into a barrage of cannon fire from the remaining Fishbed. That bastard stitched my aircraft from nose to tail with so many 23mm rounds, that I was surprised my poor Mirage F-1 made it back to base.", snapped Kitori as she rubbed her neck where the strap of her sling hung.

"You mean, you almost made it back to base. You punched out of your aircraft as you turned on final.", came the voice of the man sitting to her right.

Saki watched Kitori's eyes as they blazed with fury. Stepping in quickly before things got out of hand, Saki grabbed Kitori's sore arm and squeezed. He wanted her to remain calm and punching out this officious and pompous envoy from his family in the capital wouldn't put him on good standings with his family so they could allow him to do what he was presently thinking about doing.

_"Ow! Dammit, Whaddya do that for, Saki! That effing hurts like hell!",_ shrieked Kitori as the pain radiated from her arm all the way through her body and caused her to gasp.

"Calm down Baroness Palvanoff. Now is not the time to infuriate the family by attacking the family's' messenger. You're already treading on thin ice as it is.", replied Saki with an edge to his voice.

Kitori heard the edge in her older cousin's voice and subsided. Saki was reminding her of her status as a baroness was lower than his as a prince. It also reminded her that his grace was all that shielded her from family reprisals (their family had raised the art of reprisal to a profession). Several of their female cousins made no bones that they considered her choice of profession as an insult to their nomadic heritage. Nor did they approve of Kitori fraternizing with foreign men. Why, they wondered, did cousin Kitori want to fly fighters when she had enough wealth to marry very well and only have to bear children for her husband instead of doing such demeaning things as living with men? At least, Kitori was chaperoned by their cousin, the prince. Maybe he could keep her from cavorting with those foreign men and their animal lusts.

Regaining her seat, Kitori awkwardly smoothed the front of her flight suit down and looked dismally at her cracked pink flight helmet. She knew McCoy was going to give her most holy hell about getting a new one.

_**"Not to mention a new fighter."**, Kitori mentally groaned. _

Bringing her attention back to the conversation going on around her, Kitori listened as Saki pointed out that the baroness had brought back new and vital intelligence about the rebels.

"Well now we know that the rebels have some new pilots or their training is improving. Add this to the information we received the other day by one of the other flights about getting jumped by new rebel aircraft we must believe that there is a credible threat to Asranian sovereignty. We should have expected this day would come since we defeated the rebels years ago. I guess that royal intelligence was blind and missed the new goings on in the rebel territories.", stated Saki as he moved back to his desk and placed his palms flat on the top and leaned forward.

The envoy growled a warning as the subtle insult to the intelligence section and to him personally registered. Saki ignored the growl and continued on with his quiet berating of the pompous ass in front of him.

Kitori loved to watch when Saki put the bumbling idiots from headquarters in their place. His quiet strength and serene calmness is what made her love him even more. Kitori also loved Saki's fighter, a pristine SEPECAT Jaguar that he had had ever since he first graduated from the military academy and started flying (and fighting) for the Asranian Royal Air Force. If one were to believe the rumors, Saki's Jaguar was the first fighter he flew in his graduation ceremony. Kitori had been there as a young pre-teen girl more in line with her family's wishes for her future at the time. She had watched in awe and amazement as the specially marked Jaguar had pitched up into the vertical and accelerated leaving its mates behind. From that day forward, she had begged, pleaded, and cried to get her father to let her learn to fly. When she graduated from flight school, Kitori had left Asran and had gone to the country of Osea to learn how to fly fighters. She had returned during the time when pilots were desperately needed and had to badger her father into allowing her to join Saki's mercenaries. He had only relented when she told him that she would return home and forget her dream if the prince refused. Saki had agreed to her request and Kitori signed the contract Saki provided her with and accepted the fact that she wouldn't get any special treatment. Nor did she expect to be treated differently than the other pilots on base.

At the end of the contract, Kitori's father had demanded she return home to be wed to her betrothed and she had refused. Her father had gone to the king to complain about his wayward niece. Saki's father had circumvented his younger brother by immediately betrothing Kitori to Saki when and only when they were ready.

Now sitting her in his office, Kitori reveled in just being around the man who was to be her husband when the time was right. Her mind had just gone off on a tangent about what a future that would be when she found herself rudely shaken awake.

"Wake up Kitori. That pompous ass is gone. He didn't like my suggestion but he promised to pass it on to the king. However, I believe that as usual I'll have to circumvent everyone one and go out and recruit pilots on my own."

Kitori was ashamed. She'd fallen asleep in Saki's office during the meeting and he'd allowed it. Her face turned bright red in embarrassment. Saki saw his cousins' face redden and chuckled before assuring her that by the time she had fallen asleep, the courier had been well on his way out of the office. Saki's own face darkened for a moment as he realized that Kitori hadn't told them everything. Area 88 needed the information she was withholding if they were to defend the country.

Turning his back on Kitori and heading for his seat to give his highly embarrassed cousin a chance to gather her composure, Saki gritted his teeth as he knew what he was going to have to do. Reseated, he steepled his hands in front of his face.

""Kitori is that everything you have to report?", he asked in a deceptively calm voice.

Kitori froze, she knew that tone. Saki knew that she had been holding out and didn't tell him (or the pompous ass courier) all of the intelligence she had garnered before bailing out.

"Yes colonel that's everything."

Saki narrowed his eyes. So she wanted to make this difficult, he could make it as difficult as possible. Two could play her game and he was a past master at it while she was still learning. Glancing down at the sheet of paper on his desk, Saki saw that it was Kitori's request for a new fighter. Picking it up by one corner, he held it in the air.

"Do you know what this is?"

"No sir, I do not know what that is."

"This is your request for a new fighter. A new Mirage F-1 to be exact if I remember. You seem to have a penchant for the Dassault Mirage F-1 line, don't you?"

"Yessir.", answered Kitori with an icy dread filling her stomach.

Saki replaced the sheet on his desk and looked at it once before ignoring it altogether. He had to do this now if he was going to get the information she held.

"What would you do if I were to deny this request? I have half a mind to turn it down and ship you back to air force headquarters with a note in your file to bar you from ever flying a combat aircraft again.", stated Saki easily.

Kitori groaned as the dread that was filling her stomach grew exponentially. If he had denied her request, Kitori would've just gone over to McCoy and ordered a new fighter and accepting the price it would cost her. But if he were to deny her request AND ship her back to headquarters with a recommendation for grounding, Kitori would be at the mercy of her father and her female cousins to resign from the military and get married.

_**"And if they forced me to do that, I wouldn't be able to marry Saki. Dammit, he's got me over a barrel between a rock and a hard place. I gotta come clean about this if I want to keep my future with him intact. Shit, he always did know how to cheat.",** fumed Kitori._

Sighing in resignation, Kitori submitted and told Saki what he wanted to know.

"Colonel, I did hear some communications between the rebels but I didn't know what to make of it."

"Tell me what you heard and I'll be the judge of that.", stated the colonel simply.

"The rebels mentioned something about their new instructors and the squadrons they came from. One rebel mentioned something that sounded like Ofnir while his wingman mentioned a group called the Grabaecr."

'What else?'

Kitori angrily glared at her cousin her returned it with a look of nonchalance and beckoned to her to go on with his free hand while his other hand rested on her request.

_**"Dammed evil bastard he is. Shit!"**, Kitori thought after some more fuming. _

Seeing her cousin's nonchalance, Kitori thought about the payback Saki was going to receive when they finally did marry. She was going to make him pay, oh was she going to make him pay for this.

"Colonel, it seems that the rebels' new instructors are trying to push a confrontation with an old enemy."

"What enemy?"

"I don't know for sure sir, but I did hear something right before I ejected. At first I thought it was just a garbled transmission, but now I think that it may be the enemy their instructors were talking about."

"What enemy did they mention Baroness Palvanoff?"

Kitori frowned as she tried to remember. When it came she just tossed it out there.

"The instructors called their enemy the Razgriz sir?"

"Razgriz? Are you sure they said Razgriz?", pestered Saki.

"Yes, I'm sure that they said Razgriz. Why did you ask, Saki, and why are you so pale?", asked Kitori in concern.

Prince Saki Vashtal glanced at his cousin with dread. He knew that name, he knew it well. If Kitori was right, then compared to what Kitori had just gone through, the Royal Asranian Air Force was in for worse.

Much worse.

_**"Oh shit. If these guys are after the Razgriz, then Shin and the rest of 'Double Echo' Flight doesn't stand a chance against them. We are screwed, so bloody screwed.", **thought Saki with a growing dread. _

**0700 Hours. Heierlark Base. North Osea**

Colonel Jack 'Heartbreak One' Bartlett of the Osean Air Defense Force leaned back in the government issue chair and thought back to his actions during the Yuktobania-Osea Conflict of 2010. Sighing to himself, he rotated the chair to the nearest window. Out of the corner of his eye he saw an old copy of the old 'The Four Wings of Sand Island' article written by that reporter Genette. Above the article was a picture of the subjects of the article. Standing tall and with his trademark 'Elvis Presley' sideburns was First Lieutenant Alvin H. 'Chopper' Davenport. Wrapped up in his taller wingman's friendly one-armed headlock was the young recently promoted First Lieutenant (formerly Airman Second Class) Hans 'Archer' Grimm. On the smiling Archer's left was First Lieutenant Kei 'Edge' Nagase with her ever-present mysterious smile and short stature. Bartlett could see that even though Edge was facing the camera, her eyes looked as if they were focused on the man standing to Chopper's right. Bartlett knew that even with his head turned so that only the side of his face was visible, Captain Ian 'Blaze' Thomas always looked ready to fly and fight. Behind the young pilots were the four F-5E Tiger II fighters they had just flown in from a disastrous combat mission where the Osean Federation Navy's Third Fleet lost two of its three fleet carriers, the OFS Vulture and the OFS Buzzard, due to a surprise burst missile attack from the Yuktobanian submarine carrier, Scinfaxi. Proudly painted on the vertical stabilizers of the Tiger II's was the growling black canine emblem of the Osean 108th Fighter Squadron and its Sand Island detachment, the Wardogs.

Bartlett knew just about everything those four; he had good reason too. Having been a captain in the air force of the Osean Federation for fifteen years, he had trained those nuggets in the basics of air combat maneuvering (ACM) back when they were just newbie second lieutenants assigned to his Wardog Squadron based at Sand Island. Back then, when they were just learning, who would've thought that his newbies, known as 'Captain Bartlett's Nuggets' would become the most decorated pilots of that war before being denounced as traitors and having to flee Sand Island with the dreaded 8492nd Squadron on their asses with orders to shoot them down. A month or so before that incident, Bartlett himself had escaped from his very short stint as a Yuktobanian prisoner of war after being shot down while saving Edge's ass from a SAM that had been fired at her F-5E Tiger II. Shortly after that time, before they ended up denounced as traitors, the war had claimed the life of one of those nuggets. Captain Chopper Davenport, the tall pilot standing in a heroic stance in the black and white photo was dead. Shot down over an Osean stadium in November City where seventy thousand civilians had gathered for a speech by the Osean Vice President. True to his gregarious nature; Chopper (whom Bartlett often referred to as Mr. Rock and Roller in a derisive but respectful and friendly way) fought on with his mortally damaged F/A-18E Super Hornet (often times referred to as the Rhino to keep from getting mixed up with the base model F/A-18C Hornet) after taking several missile hits from Yuktobanian Air Force fighters in a sneak attack on the ceremony where Chopper, Archer, Blaze, and Edge had just performed a ceremonial flyby. In a slight lull between the first and second Yuke attack waves, Chopper had found out that he couldn't eject from his doomed fighter because the canopy had jammed and couldn't be blown off. Waiting till the stadium had been fully evacuated of civilians, Captain Davenport had asked Blaze, his flight lead, if the he saw a place where Davenport could ride his burning aircraft in to the ground. The only place available was the stadium itself. Gallantly, after ensuring that the stadium was indeed empty of civilians, Chopper rode the wounded Super Hornet in and had been killed.

In the furball that followed after Chopper's death, Blaze, Edge, and Archer had continued fighting like the demon they were later named after. With just three fighters remaining and vastly outnumbered (much later the odds against his three remaining nuggets had been calculated at greater than five to one), the Wardogs had persevered and beat off the attack. Shifting his gaze back to the window and the swirling snowstorm that raged outside, Bartlett heard a knock at his door.

"Come on in Pops, I know its you.", replied the decorated pilot.

The door creaked open and Bartlett turned to the one pilot who was even better than him: former Belkan ace, Colonel Huckabein the Raven. Now using a different name, (Peter N. Beagle), and an Osean Special Forces 2nd lieutenant rank; the balding man with his formerly black beard and goatee entered the office. Glancing around with the eyes that had given him his Belkan callsign, Pops saw the midnight black flight jacket with its dark grey trim hanging from the back of Bartlett's chair. In the place of honor over the left breast was a unique and extremely rare squadron patch. Pops knew how rare and extremely top secret that patch was; he was one of seven people to ever wear that patch. Of the seven, one was dead, three had resigned their commissions in the Osean Air Force (Bartlett had had a private word with then Osean Federation President Harling to have the resignations accepted and then shifting the three pilots to the inactive reserve force), and the remaining pilot was presently attending the launch and commissioning of the new aircraft carrier Kestrel II. Major Snow (callsign: Swordsman) of the Osean Naval Air Force had requested Bartlett allow him to attend the launching of the replacement for the ship that had been his home throughout the war only to be destroyed in the last battle by sub-launched anti-ship missiles just after it had catapulted Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman into the final battle with the forces of the Belkan 'Grey Men' at the head of a large coalition of Osean and Yuktobanian fighters, AWACS, helicopters, and army units over Sudentor in North Belka.

"Today's the day, isn't it? The day that Blaze and rest of the Razgriz honor the first and only 'Demons of Razgriz' casualty of that damned war.", asked Pops.

"Yeah, telling Harling that the Ghosts of Razgriz wanted to hold a private ceremony in honor of Lieutenant Colonel Davenport was the third smartest thing that crazy woman ever did.", growled Bartlett in his signature gravely voice.

"What were the two smartest things Nagase did?", asked Pops even though he knew Bartlett's answer.

"Marrying Blaze and giving birth to their two children; Kita and Allen, of course. Pops, you know that.", answered

Bartlett

"If those were Nagase's two smartest decisions then what were Blaze's two most intelligent decisions? Ah, let me guess: marrying Nagase and giving his first born son a name that begins with the same letter as Choppers' did.", Pops shot back with a grin.

"Nah, those were his third and fourth smartest decisions. Kid's first two smart decisions were becoming a fighter pilot in the first place and having the honor of having us two as his main flight instructors. Me for kicking his ass in the air so he could learn and you for being there to listen to his bitches after I'd kicked his ass topside.", chuckled Bartlett.

Pops chuckled with his old friend and remembered a time when the gruff pilot had saved his ass after they both had been shot down in the war where Yuktobanian and Osean had been allies against Belka. Bartlett had been nicknamed 'Kid' himself in those days. His grin turned into a frown as he remembered the reason for his meeting Bartlett in the first place. Glancing at the plain wedding band on the third finger of Bartlett's left hand, Pops also remembered when and where his friend had first started calling himself 'Heartbreak One'. Bartlett followed his friend's look and unconsciously thought about his wife.

Pops thought about how different things were these days now that Osea and Yuktobania were again allies instead of enemies. These days Bartlett's marriage raised only a few eyebrows among the senior officers of the Osean Air Defense Force. It was unusual to say the least that a high-ranking fighter pilot in the OADF was married to a Yuktobanian Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel. Even more unusual was the fact that this female officer was under the direct command of the Yuke Prime Minister.

Friends of the Bartlett scoffed at the idea that the colonel had fallen in love with Bartlett out of a sense of duty (a major when her and Bartlett first met during the first war against Belka). It was love; they stated unequivocally, a love that predated the fact that for a short time the Osean Federation and the Yuktobanian Republic had been at war. Most of the condemnation that had been directed towards Bartlett had faded away when it became public knowledge that Bartlett and his wife had had a baby girl two years previous. Little Anastasia Jacqueline Bartlett was a heartbreaker in her own innocent way. With dark hair from both of her parents, mischievous dark eyes that Jack insisted came from her mother Natasha, and an attitude that her mother insisted was her father at its core, Anna was loved by her parents and their friends. Anna was often times spoiled by both of her godfathers. In Yuktobania, Prime Minister Nikanor was known for canceling meetings on a whim whenever her mother brought Anna to visit. In Osean, Former President Vincent Harling always had a bedroom for Anna to stay in whenever Bartlett and his wife were able to sneak in for a visit.

"Jack, your little girl probably gets to sit in on more high-level Intel briefings than anyone I've ever known. I'd bet four brand new engines for that X-29 we received the other day that your daughter would be a very well protected national security asset for both countries. Oh, I can't wait till she gets older and decides what she wants to do with her life. Will she be a pilot like her old man or will she be a spook like her mother?"

"If I have anything to say about it, Anna will be a pilot. But I won't allow her to become a fighter pilot like me. She's going to fly airliners and make a helluva lot more money than her mother and I make."

Pops nodded in agreement. He'd known too many young men and women who flew fighters and hadn't survived. It was dammed depressing to see more men and women replace those that hadn't made it. Glancing down at Bartlett's desk, Pops noticed the unopened letter sitting in the middle of the tabletop. From the officious markings on the envelope itself, he could tell it had come from Brigadier General Perrault; the former commander of Sand Island Base.

"I wonder what Fat Boy Perrault wants now. I'll give him credit; he was a fighter pilot, albeit of average ability. And he did manage to become a treble ace (15 confirmed kills). However, Perrault is a better administrator than either of us will ever be."

"Yeah, that makes what I have to do today double painful. Today is supposed to be a day for honoring Chopper. With that letter, today is the day that the four wearers of that patch are reactivated for a special assignment.", growled Bartlett.

Pops eyebrow lifted in surprise before falling down in anger. He knew that Bartlett had no choice but to follow orders and reactivate the Razgriz. If there was a way to avoid it, Bartlett would've found a way to 'lose' the letter, however, that bastard Perrault had made sure the letter came through official channels and was logged in as 'received'. The general had even had a special courier flight from Oured bring Bartlett the letter to make absolutely sure his wayward colonel got the message.

"Dammit, Jack, you can't do that. You know how much this day means to Blaze, Archer, and Edge. Especially Nagase, this day means a helluva lot to her. Come on Bartlett, ya gotta let them grieve today. Give them Perraults' news tomorrow. It can't be that important, whatever it is.", pleaded Pops.

Bartlett growled before catapulting himself out of his chair and stalking over to the window.

"Dammit, Pops, you know that if I could I'd do exactly what you said. Hell, I would've even lost this letter if I thought I could get away with it. However, before Fat Boy sent me his missive, I got a back channel message from Natasha. She's got informants all over the world and what some of them have turned up jibe too gawddammed well with this bullshit message I get from Perrault. Even Nikanor and Harling have sent me messages about this. For fuck's sake Pops, we've got to act on this quick if we ever want peace. If the Razgriz don't help the Royal Asranian Air Force, then the enemy will overthrow the royal family and all hell'll break loose over there and cause the return of what remains of the "Grey Men' to Belka. And you know what the Grey Men will do for vengeance against the Osean Federation and the Yuktobanian Republic if that happens. Pops, I'm sorry but my hands are tied.", protested Bartlett.

"Yeah, I just bet they are, colonel. Will that be all? I have to get the hanger ready for when the Razgriz arrive.", snarled Pops.

"Come on Pops, don't get that way!"

"I said will that be all, colonel?"

Bartlett shook his head and turned to face out the window. With his hands behind his back and his eyes on what was going on below, Bartlett winced as he heard the door slam as Pops headed back to the hangar where the black painted aircraft of the Razgriz were kept. In the hangar guarded by stone faced guards with orders to shoot to kill anyone who even thought about entering the sacred place sat a full wing of black painted aircraft. In one corner were four black-painted F-14A Tomcats and their F-14B Bombcat derivatives. In another far corner were Sukhoi SU-27 Flankers and SU-33 Super Flankers also painted black and with the special Razgriz emblem on the vertical stabilizers.

Pops keyed in his access code (one of two people on base to have the code) and entered the darkened hanger. After letting his eyes adjust to the dimness he spotted the four X-29 reverse swept wing fighters acquired just before the end of the war. He went over to one and opened an access panel on its side to tinker with the internals for a bit. It didn't take long before he slammed the panel down in frustration. Turning to the middle of the hanger in the spot of honor were the four deadliest birds the Razgriz ever piloted: The F-20A Tigershark.

For those in the know, the F-20 Tigershark was the badass little brother of the F-5A Freedom Fighter and the F-5E Tiger II and it showed. With the twin nose cannons of the Tiger II, and the deadly air to air missiles slung underneath its wings and fuselage, the Tigershark looked ready to fight. Single-engined (both the Tiger II and the Freedom Fighter were twin-engined) and with sixty percent greater thrust than either of its siblings, the Tigershark could shoot, scoot, and maneuver all before an enemy could get a good weapons lock on it. The T-shark was built at a time when the Osean Federation was looking for a small cheap fighter to build and sell to its allies all over the world. Since there had been a moratorium that stated that selling fighters like the F-16A Fighting Falcon to their allies (Which was designed and built around the same time as the Tigershark) was illegal, Osea wanted to give its allies an aircraft that could match up pretty well with new OADF stuff and which the allies could build on their own. Unfortunately for the time, a new president had been elected and one of the first things he had done was kill the moratorium and allow Osean allies to buy Falcons of their own. This, and the notorious handling of the Tigershark, had killed off what Pops thought was one of the best and cheapest first rate advanced (for its day) fighter aircraft in the world.

Recognizing the set of padded footsteps that echoed throughout the quiet hanger, Pops reached down and scratched the ears of his pet dog. Kirk had followed Pops throughout his entire career after he defected from the Belkan Armed Forces. Pops remembered how the pup had ridden in the cockpit of his trainer jet when Pops had led Blaze, Edge, and Archer away from Sand Island with the 8492 in hot pursuit. Kirk whined and Pops sighed.

"Yeah Kirk, I know Bartlett's right but damn it those kids are trying to lead normal lives; lives without the eminent threat of death lurking around every corner, whether they are from enemy guns and missiles or their own equipment. I can only do so much to keep these birds flying and there may be a time where something important will fail because I didn't thoroughly check it out. What about Blaze and Edge's children, what would happen if either one or both of them died in Asran? Kita and Allen would be orphans and they wouldn't know about the things their parents did long before they were born. Ahh, I don't know, Kirk. Maybe I'm getting to old for this shit. Maybe it's time for em to hang up the tool belt.", muttered Pops as he continued rubbing the dogs' ears.

Deciding to head back outside to wait for the crew, Pops stretched his arms and turned towards the hanger door. With Kirk following at his heels, Pops headed to his office. He had to go check on the aircraft and make sure that no matter which ones they chose to take to Asran (if they decided to accept the assignment) they aircraft they took would be in peak condition and ready to perform whatever tasks asked of them.

Besides, he liked working on airplanes.

**Same time. City of Oured. Capital of the Osean Federation.**

Osean Air Defense Force Reserve Major (inactive) Kei Nagase-Thomas yawned and rolled over. Expecting to feel the warm firmness of her husband's figure lying beside her, Kei was a bit surprised when all her hands could find was an empty spot that still radiated some of the warmth from the person that had reclined there. Opening her eyes to look around the small bedroom she and Ian shared in their small one story house, Kei closed them to slits when the bright yellow light of the sun invaded through the curtains.

"Dammit, where could he be this early in the morning?', swore the former fighter pilot.

Raising her head with its mussed slightly longer than usual black hair hanging in front of her narrowed eyes, Nagase glanced around the room. Seeing that her husband, OADF Reserve Major (also inactive) Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was nowhere in sight, she groaned before getting up and swinging her slender sweat pants enclosed legs to her side of the small queen-sized bed and slipping her feet into a pair of warm moccasin style house shoes. Yawning once before rising to her feet with an ethereal grace, Kei rubbed her bare stomach underneath her sports bra. Reaching down to the nightstand without looking, the one time feared Valkyrie of air warfare, grabbed the OADF sweatshirt that Blaze had tossed there last night as they were climbing into each others arms.

Leaving the bedroom after a fond glance at the wedding photo prominently displayed on the dresser, Kei walked down the hallway to the first bedroom and opened the door. Peaking inside quietly, she saw that her four year old son Allen Thomas was sleeping soundly. Kei smothered a chuckle when she saw that Allen had managed to keep his arms wrapped around his favorite stuffed animal, a teddy bear dressed in an old style flight suit with a leather jacket and an old style leather flight helmet on his head. Seeing that her son had again kicked his blanket off his legs during the night, she padded into the room decorated with aviation memorabilia and carefully reached down and recovered Allen with his blanket. Placing a motherly kiss to his forehead, Kei left the room and continued in her search for her husband.

Leaving her son's room, Kei continued on to her daughter Kita's bedroom. Opening the door to the domain of her six year old daughter Kita, Kei saw that her daughter was slowly starting to wake up. The first thing Kita Thomas did was open her dark eyes (which her father swore were exact replica's of Nagase's own dark orbs, Kei of course disagreed) then rolled onto her side and looked around the room as if seeing it for the first time. Seeing her mother standing in the doorway gave her a start but-much to Kei's immense pride- the six year old didn't let it faze her.

"Oh, good morning mom, anything wrong?", Kita murmured with a voice laden with sleep.

"Nothing's wrong little one. I'm just looking for your father.", replied in a more mature version of Kita's voice.

Kita yawned again and made to get out of her twin bed. Blearily blinking sleep from her eyes, the little girl thought for a moment, and then told her mother that her father had stopped by for a moment before going in the direction of their quaint little kitchen. Kei smiled at her daughter before she exited the room. Deciding to take a quick shower before continuing her search for her wayward husband, Kei returned to the master bedroom. Standing in front of her mirror, the almost thirty year old woman looked at her reflection. Approving of what she saw as a still beautiful former fighter pilot who kept physically fit.

_**"If Blaze's reaction to the dress I wore last night was any indication, I'm still as fit as I was back then.",** thought Edge as she gave her reflection a wicked grin while remembering her and Blaze's amorous antics after returning home from a small dinner party the previous night._

Humming to herself, Kei Nagase-Thomas stripped out of her sleepwear and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for the day.

**0945 Hours. Bana City. North Osea**

Reserve Osean Air Defense Force Major Hans 'Archer' Grimm (also inactive) woke up with a pounding headache. The night before his brother Joseph Grimm, an active duty Osean Army lieutenant colonel (he'd survived operation Desert Arrow and had gotten a battlefield commission to first lieutenant. By the end of the war the elder Grimm had attained the rank of major) had dropped in on Hans to celebrate his graduation from college.

After the war, Archer had-like Blaze and Edge-resigned his commission and went back to school. With his OADF grant money, Hans decided to study for his bachelor's and master's degrees in Aeronautical Engineering. It had taken Hans several years to finish his studies but the day before he had finally been awarded his master's degree in his chosen field. Dealing with the other students (some of whom were also veterans of the war) Hans had to learn a whole new set of social interaction skills. If it hadn't been for Genette's support and occasional visits when he was in town, Archer would've given up long before.

The former youthful aerial assassin had been pleasantly surprised when his family had shown up for his graduation. His parents sitting proudly in the front row as he received his degree. His older brother Joseph sitting right behind them in his Osean army uniform with his new silver oak leaves glinting in the afternoon sun. Archer didn't know what made him decide to attend college in the city he and his wingmen had saved from a Yuktobanian commando gas attack; he just felt that this was the best place for him to learn. Often times Hans would walk about the city looking around and remembering that hectic day. Sometimes Archer would go to the waterfront and look out towards where the last enemy helicopter had been shot down and crashed into the ocean. The wreckage was still there but the bodies of the flight crew had been brought up to the surface and returned to Yuktobania with an army honor unit accompanying them. Hans still got chills whenever he passed the building where Blaze had attempted to strafe the terrorists' get away truck before sector command had ordered them to not open fire in the city. Of course by that time, the gas had all been eliminated and each of them was still carrying a few extra neutralizing bombs. Blaze had attempted to use his remaining bombs by dropping them on the truck before having to turn and face the attack helicopters coming in to rescue the commando team.

Getting up out of bed in his small apartment, Hans staggered to the door and glanced into the living room, His brother Joseph was still on the couch where he had passed out after bringing his brother home. The two siblings had gone out on the town after a celebratory dinner with their parents. Johan and Marie Grimm had returned to their hotel after dinner to get some rest. Joseph took advantage of that and proceeded to get him and Hans so drunk it was a miracle the two made it back to Archer's apartment. Seeing his older brother, the reason why he joined the OADF in the first place, lying there on his couch snoozing peacefully with his colonel's hat covering his eyes and his jacket being used as a temporary blanket looked so humorous that Archer had to take a picture.

"I know what you're thinking Hans and my suggestion is for you to not do what you are thinking about doing.", said Joseph without opening his eyes.

"What makes you think I was planning something?", asked Hans innocently.

Joseph Grimm lifted his uniform cap off of his eyes and sat up so he could face his younger brother. Looking him dead in the eye, he told Hans what gave him away.

"You laughed and when you laugh in that tone of voice, it usually means that you are planning something."

Archer didn't say anything; he just went into the kitchen to start preparations for a small breakfast. It wasn't going to be much; his parents had reservations for brunch for later that day. Grinning at his older sibling, the former fighter pilot felt relieved.

**1342 Hours. Port St. Hewlett. Homeport: Osean Third Naval Fleet.**

Major Jonas 'Swordsman' Snow looked at the crowd now departing the dock where the commissioning and launch of the new Osean Federation Ship _Kestrel II_ had just finished. Colonel Bartlett had allowed him to fly in to be there for the ceremony when Admiral Andresson had invited Snow. Andresson had been the commanding officer of the original _Kestrel _when Snow had been stationed aboard as the squadron leader for one of the Tomcat squadrons aboard the flattop. Snow had been out on a solo patrol when the _Kestrel_ and the rest of the ships in her battlegroup had come under attack in this very port. He remembered yelling at First Lieutenant Chopper Davenport to get outta his way as he and the rest of the Wardogs had come to defend the port and the fleet.

Zipping past the trio of Wardog Squadron Tiger II's in his Tomcat, Snow had immediately jumped into the furball that was developing over the harbor. Flaming a pair of Intruders on his first couple of passes, Swordsman had kept an eye on the Wardog nuggets just to be sure that the newbies had their shit together. The six foot four dark-skinned naval aviator with the baritone voice had been impressed. The Wardogs had joined in the fray and were downing enemies left and right. Snow had watched as Chopper had popped three enemy Tiger II's and an Intruder in a furious rolling scissors furball.

As the _Kestrel_ and its group made a break for the open ocean, Captain Snow had been all for escorting the birdfarm out to sea but air defense command had ordered him to stay and finish off the enemies over the harbor while the Wardogs protected his home as it beat feet outta the harbor. About ten minutes after escaping the harbor, Snow rendezvoused with the _Kestrel_ and Wardog in time to help them break a Yuke blockade. On that fateful day, Snow witnessed Blaze sink three hydrofoil gunboats and a couple of hovercraft before sending a pair of destroyers to Davy Jones' Locker that made the mistake of trying to keep the Third Naval Fleet blockaded.

The next time Snow ran into Wardog Squadron, Archer had joined them and they were in the air armada that was escorting the three carriers of the Third Naval Fleet-the OFS _Kestrel_, OFS _Buzzard_, and OFS _Vulture_-to one of Osea's inland seas to protect them from the Yuktobanians. Unfortunately, that dammed submarine _Scinfaxi _had decimated the fleet by sinking the _Buzzard _and the _Vulture_ with its accursed burst missiles.

Snow was remembering the other times he had worked with Wardog when he heard the clearing of a throat behind him. Turning around, Jonas came to attention and saluted the white haired man standing there.

"Admiral Andresson, I didn't expect to see you so soon after the ceremony. Is there anything I can do for you sir?", asked Snow in his mellow baritone.

"No major there isn't anything you can do, I just wanted to get your impressions of this new _Kestrel_.", stated the elderly admiral with his distinctive voice.

"She's a beauty sir. Whoever gets to command her will be a lucky man or woman. I would be glad to serve aboard her in any capacity possible."

Andresson grinned; he knew that the major in front of him wasn't telling a lie. Major Snow always told it to you straight. Although it had garnered him many enemies in the upper echelons, not to mention his peers, Jonas Snow wasn't about to give anyone a shine job. He told you the straight skinny up front no bullshit. Replacing his uniform cap on his snow white hair, Andresson turned and faced the ocean.

"I remember the battle that was fought here like it was yesterday. You and the Wardogs up there clearing a path and shooting down every hostile aircraft you could; the other squadrons contributing piecemeal, AWACS Thunderhead coordinating the battle and ordering you to cover the port instead of covering the ship. That was a rough one. You say that this _Kestrel_ is a good ship. I agree however this _Kestrel_ doesn't have the history that her predecessor had. I still remember the look on your face after you returned from destroying the SOLG to find out that the original had been sunk. You looked like your favorite toy had been taken away, major."

Snow winced, he hated it when the admiral got to close to mental wounds that he would rather stay buried. It was true though, when he Blaze, Edge, and Archer had destroyed the SOLG, Snow had been looking forward to a big meal of rollers and sliders (hotdogs and hamburgers in shipboard parlance) when he trapped back aboard the _Kestrel_. He'd just been about ready to break down and cry when he heard that his ship, his home had gone down. It was a devastating lost. Snow remembered all the men and women who had launched from the _Kestrel _and never returned.

"Yessir, I was devastated to find out she'd been sunk but the original _Kestrel_ did her job and got us launched before she succumbed. I think about her every day. She's was a helluva ship and you were a helluva man to be her skipper. The day I catapulted off her decks to go shoot down the Sand Island guys, you stopped me as I was headed out to my bird and told me to make it look good so Thunderhead and those 8492 bastards could report that they had been killed.'

"Yes, you got that medal you demanded from them, I see."

"Yeah, I got that pretty piece of tin but I never wore it. I hated that piece of metal, I'm happy it went down with the _Kestrel._ That is one award I could do without. Unfortunately, that I received that token is in my personnel file and anyone who reads that file will know my shame.", continued Snow with a bitter tone in his voice.

Andresson just smiled. Next time the major got to read his file, there would be no mention of his receiving the medal he'd been given. One of the first things that the admiral had done upon his promotion and confirmation to the rank of admiral is go over to the bureau of personnel and ordered the officer in charge of maintaining the records to delete any and all references to that most hated award. The officer had been scared out of his wits and had done what he'd been ordered without any complaints.

The two men were silent and thought about their shipmates who hadn't survived to see this day. It was the admiral who broke the silence.

"Major Snow when the _Kestrel_ casts off for her first deployment, I would be greatly honored if you would be the first aircraft this ship catapulted off and trapped aboard. I believe it would be what our shipmates would want."

Major Snow turned to face the admiral. Behind his sunglasses it was hard to see the emotion in Jonas' eyes but it was there.

"I would be honored captain. It would be a way to honor both the original _Kestrel_ and her replacement."

Admiral Andresson nodded then glanced at his watch. It was approaching near the time till the major's takeoff for his return to Heierlark. Andresson wondered why the major would willingly leave warm and sunny Port St. Hewlett to return to the icy cold Heierlark Base in North Osea.

_**"I guess its because that's where the Demons of Razgriz have their memorial for Lieutenant Colonel Davenport each year.",** thought the admiral. _

The two men stood for a moment more before Snow excused himself so he could prepare for his return to Heierlark. He had fledgling tailhookers to train and a memorial to attend. Saluting Admiral Andresson one last time Major Snow; the Eternal Swordsman, turned on his heel and strode across the non-skid flight deck with his precise 30 inch parade ground step. Andresson watched as the black fighter pilot in his dress white uniform with his solid gold naval aviators wings glinting in the sun made his way across the deck and entered the ship's 'island'. From there, the admiral knew that Snow would make his way down to the hanger bay and from the hanger bay to the boarding ladders to disembark from the monstrous grey ship.

"I hope that this special assignment doesn't get that man killed. He's a damn good pilot but there is always someone out there better. And from the rumors I'm hearing, he and his wingmates might be facing the most dangerous enemies they've ever faced.", mused the elderly admiral before returning his attention back to the dark sapphire blue ocean his flagship floated serenely on.

As he watched the sun start its afternoon cruise across the sky, Andresson heard the bosun's pipe as Major Snow was piped ashore.

"Major, Osean Naval Air Forces. Departing.", came the voice of the officer on duty at the gangway after the eight bells rang out over the 1MC shipwide public address system.

**2100 Hours. Skies above Heierlark Base. North Osea.**

In the skies over Heierlark, a lone F-4G Phantom II flew aimlessly about. With an Ace of Hearts painted on the side of its radome, the aircraft danced effortless through the twilight sky. Anyone watching from the ground would be enthralled by the maneuvers of the pilot. It was as if the pilot and his mount were as one moving through the air with the greatest of ease. Only somebody who knew this pilot and was an ace pilot himself could tell that the pilot behind the controls of the Phantom was not in the greatest of moods.

Jack Bartlett angrily yanked his flight stick to and fro as he banked his fighter into another series of heart-stopping roller coaster maneuvers. He'd been up in the air for the past six hours; aerial refueling whenever his fuel level was low. Ever since Pops had stormed out of his office, Bartlett hadn't been able to work on how he planned to break the news to Blaze and the others. Finally, after blowing up at a trainee Airman Second Class named Davenport; Jack had called the flight line and asked the linesmen to have them prep his Phantom. He was going flying. Bartlett always thought better when he was pushing his beloved Phantom through its paces, or so his wife Natasha was known to mention to their friends. Kei often nodded when Natasha mentioned this. Her husband Blaze was the same way.

Bartlett grinned wryly under his oxygen mask as he remembered the first meeting between Natasha (she called herself the major at that time) and Nagase. It happened over the radio waves when Bartlett and Natasha were leading a group of Yuke resistance personnel in helping Prime Minister Nikanor escape from captivity. Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman had flown cover over the car convoy on its way to a secluded airfield to steal an aircraft. Bartlett had asked Kid to recommend which way for them to go in order to get to the airfield by seven in the morning. After they had returned to the _Kestre_l and the guys had gotten their first look at 'The Major', Bartlett thought he was going to have to maim either Blaze or Archer. Both young men just about torqued their necks staring at the tall, brown-haired Natasha.

_**"Luckily Nagase and Natasha hit it off after those first few awkward moments. Although I still think that once Natasha showed that she had no interest in Blaze, Kei felt a bit better."**, thought Bartlett._

Before he could muse on it a bit longer, he heard Thunderhead call him on the radio.

"Thunderhead, you have Heartbreak One. Go ahead."

"Heartbreak One, Thunderhead holds a contact on radar heading in your direction. No communications with the bogey yet.", came one of the voices from the converted Boeing 767 Sentry aircraft.

"Thunderhead, Heartbreak one copies. Coming to two eight zero to see if I can spot him with my own radar."

"Thunderhead copies, Heartbreak One. Be advised Thunderhead is getting swept by what seems to be an AWG-9 radar system."

Bartlett cursed; he wondered if anyone aboard the E-767 knew that the AWG-9 was the main radar system for an F-14A Tomcat. The radar operators aboard the AWACS aircraft must be catching sweeps from Major Snow's fighter.

Just as he was about to chastise the radar operators onboard the big twin-engined aircraft, the mission commander came over the radio and corrected the original contact report.

"Ahh, Heartbreak One this is Thunderhead Mike Charley. The contact has called in and identified himself as Swordsman. He's seventy-five miles out and requesting weather conditions. Also, we are holding Archer at one hundred twenty miles behind Swordsman."

"Copy that Thunderhead. Go ahead and give Swordsman the weather and pass it on to Archer. Have Swordsman circle till both Archer and I can join up. Thunderhead, do you hold any contact on Blaze and Edge?"

"Negative colonel, Thunderhead holds negative contact on Blaze and Edge. Thunderhead will pass on your instructions to Archer and Swordsman. Thunderhead out."

"Heartbreak One leaving my present altitude to join up with Swordsman and Archer. Heartbreak One out."

Seventy-five miles away, Major Snow acknowledged the instructions from Thunderhead (who was flying an elliptical pattern with its fighter escorts at 35,000 feet over 300 miles away.) and put his Tomcat into a gentle bank to starboard to wait for Archer and Heartbreak One. Thinking back to his conversation with the admiral, Snow let his mind wander. Listening in to the conversation between Bartlett and the AWACS aircraft, he wondered where Blaze and Edge were as well.

After the war, the four pilots had maintained a small modicum of contact with each other until Blaze and Edge disappeared off the screen after their marriage and the birth of Kita. Jonas figured that the newlyweds wanted to live a normal life and raise their family without all the baggage that went with being who they actually were (the information about the Sand Island Squadron was still a few years from being released in accordance with then President Harling's wishes.).

Last time Snow had heard from the couple had been upon the birth of their son Allen. Blaze had flown his personal aircraft (the Hawk trainer he had used on his solo reconnaissance over Mt. Schirm) out to Heierlark and informed Snow that Edge had requested that he be the godfather of their son. He had accepted and that had been the last time they had talked (except for the annual meeting in Chopper's honor.)

"Swordsman, this is Archer. I'm approaching your six. Can you clear me into your port side?", came the voice of the young pilot.

"Copy that, Archer. You're cleared on to my left side. Maintain formation at least ten yards off my port wing. Heartbreak One will be joining us shortly and I'll have him on my right wing.", replied Snow.

Getting a double click of acknowledgment from the younger pilot, Jonas turned his head to the left and saw the F-15 Eagle that Archer preferred sliding into position. He noticed that Hans had kept the Yuktobanian paint scheme they had used on the ravine mission. Jonas still got chills about that one. Flying at breakneck speeds in a ravine and not being able to climb above its rim without getting a SAM up your ass. Also dealing with the dammed Yuke Typhoons, Apaches, and gunboats in that narrow airspace. To top it all off, having to face the Ofnir's (who could and did climb above the rim in attempts to lure Jonas and his compatriots above the rim). The major chuckled as he remembered Grimm's poisonous reply to something Blaze had said.

_**"We all were pissed off at the conditions of that battle. I think Blaze made everyone feel a tad bit better after he nailed the Ofnir Leader with that missile shot around the curve of the ravine.", **thought Snow as he eased out of his circle as the F-4G of colonel Bartlett moved into position on his right wing. _

Minutes later the Tomcat touched down on the snow and windswept runway of Heierlark Base. Close behind it came the Eagle of Hans Grimm and the Phantom II of Colonel Jack Bartlett. The three aircraft taxied over to where Pops was standing with several groundcrew holding lighted wands. Once the three fighters were stopped and chocked in place, the three pilots shut down their engines and raised their cockpit canopies in unison. First down his boarding ladder, Bartlett stepped over to the nose of the Tomcat and waited for its pilot to climb down. Once Snow dropped from the bottom rung of his ladder to the ground, Pops was there with a down-filled parka for the pilot to wear till they got inside the building.

The two pilots greeted one another while waiting for a parka clad Archer to join them. Once the younger pilot did, the three men headed for the operations building. Jonas looked around as they came through the door and sighed as the warmth from the heating system flowed through his body. He looked over to where Grimm and Bartlett were talking and saw that they were deep in conversation. Looking around for the former Belkan Ace turned ace mechanic, Snow saw Pops standing a little ways off with an expressionless look on his face. Walking over to the older man, Snow asked him what was wrong.

"Something came up.", stated the mechanic.

"What came up Pops? Tell me something. I'm getting the vibe that you and Bartlett aren't exactly on good terms about this.", returned the mechanic.

"Wait for Blaze and Edge to get here. Then hope that Nagase doesn't kill Bartlett where he stands when she finds out what's about to happen.", countered Pops in a mysterious tone of voice.

Snow let it drop for the moment but suddenly he felt a chill that wasn't due to the weather.

Two hours later Snow, Grimm, Bartlett and Pops were gathered around the radio in the communications shack listening to Thunderhead as he gave two fighters clearance to Heierlark Base. All four of the men in the small room recognized the voices as those of their missing friends Blaze and Edge. In the time since Snow and Grimm had landed, the weather had taken a turn for the worse and visibility was down. The snapping voice coming from the speaker told everyone that Edge was being affected by the bored and condescending tone of voice from the apathetic controller. As usual Blaze was quiet and acting as if he was in complete control of events. Blaze's quiet voice and calm attitude was starting to have a calming effect on his wife and she was becoming less snappish as the pair came closer to their destination.

"This reminds me of the weather when we covered Sea Goblin when they were sent in to rescue those POW's at that Yuke POW camp in the mountains. Edge was for sure you were there Colonel Bartlett. As those choppers were egressing the area, she just about pestered those rotorheads and the rescue squad to see if you were among the rescuees. When she got shot down on that same mission, Captain Davenport just about jumped down the gunship pilot's throat when he asked if Nagase was a looker.", commented Archer as he listened to the now more civil conversation between the AWACS and Blaze and sipped on his mug of coffee.

Everyone in the room looked at the young man but let his comments pass. Bartlett stiffened for a moment when Edge's voice lashed out over the radio net before loosening up as Blaze's voice over rode Nagase's. Listening for a few minutes longer, the colonel saw that the two fighters would soon be visible through the snow falling down on the runway. Bartlett backed away from his position to the side of the radio and turned towards the door. Once he was facing that way, he cast a look at Pops and saw that his friend still had a stony expression on his face. Ignoring it, the colonel left the room and headed upstairs to his office. He had a map to study.

Ten minutes after Colonel Bartlett had exited the room, Snow and Grimm followed Pops out to watch the landing of their two friends through a snow encrusted window. The first thing they saw was the landing lights. Neither Jonas nor Hans could figure out what aircraft Edge and Blaze were flying till Pops chimed in.

"Hmm, a pair Tigersharks, I wonder where those two stashed those aircraft and kept them out of the public's knowledge.", murmured Pops as he stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"I bet Genette had hand in helping those two. That reporter has his hands in just about everything. I wouldn't put it past him to bribe somebody to keep those aircraft quiet.", stated Snow.

"Nah, Blaze and Edge just probably had them hidden in one of the abandoned hangers at the airfield near their house. Then all they would have to do is go through their backyard to the gate that let on to the airfield, walk to the hanger, open the hanger doors, and then taxi out to the active runway. Once on the runway they would activate the remote that closed the hanger doors and takeoff, arranging for aerial refueling stops all the way here.", stated Grimm absently.

The other two men looked curiously at the younger pilot who shrugged his shoulders and explained how he knew about that.

"I was on vacation for Spring Break a couple of years ago and flew into Oured for a short visit. Blaze must've been listening to the radio; he was waiting for me when I taxied in. After my postflight, he brought me over to the house and showed me where they lived and kept their airplanes. I was only in Oured for maybe a day and a half and I spent most of the time with Blaze, Edge, and their family."

Snow just shook his head while Pops laughed. It was so typical for Archer to do something like that and forget to mention it. Pops lead the way back out into the dark night with Snow following and Archer bringing up the rear wondering what the hell Pops was laughing at. Upstairs, Bartlett looked out the window of his office and watched ash is friends and fellow pilots went to meet the new arrivals. Sighing to himself, he returned his attention to the map of Asran. Studying it for a bit longer, he reached down to his desk and picked up a black push pin and stuck it in the middle of the symbol for an airbase in the middle of nowhere in the Asranian desert. The legend beside the symbol gave the name of the airbase as 'Area 88'.

An hour after Blaze and Edge had landed, the former members of the Razgriz met up with Pops in front of the secured hanger where the Razgriz aircraft were being kept under lock and key. All four were wearing black flightsuits and carrying their black painted helmets. Over the thin Nomex flightsuits, each pilot wore their midnight black with dark grey trim flight jackets. Like Bartlett's jacket, each pilot had the squadron patch over the left breast. Unlike Bartlett's jacket, the patches on the front of each pilot's jacket had a number under the graphic; Blaze was Razgriz One (or Razgriz Lead as he was sometimes referred as), Edge was Razgriz Two, Archer was Razgriz Four, and Swordsman was Razgriz Five. By unspoken agreement between the four pilots there was not now and never would be a Razgriz Three. That number and name had died when Captain Davenport was killed in November City. Since he was the first of the four original pilots to actually use the name Razgriz when talking to the AWACS, Davenports' famous words were immortalized in a recording made by Thunderhead on that fateful day the name Razgriz was first used to describe the 'Four Wings of Sand Island'. Bartlett had found the recording after the war when he was going through the recordings from the war. He'd signed it out and with President Harling's permission had completely erased the recording from the files.

Pops opened the hanger door and stepped to the side where his right hand reached out and found the light switch. He waited for everyone to enter the hanger (with Bartlett bringing up the rear) before closing the door securely and flipping on the lights. The first thing that caught an observer's eye if they were ever allowed in here was the life sized portraits of the five Razgriz pilots wearing their dress uniforms. These portraits were taken before the war as evinced by the second lieutenant's bars on the collars of Blaze, Edge, and Chopper; the Airman First Class stripes on Archer's uniform sleeves and the captain's shoulder boards on the shoulders of Swordsman's' naval uniform.

Next to catch the eye of a witness was the painting of a picture taken aboard the Kestrel after the Razgriz had rescued President Harling and had been designated his personal squadron. On the vertical stabilizer of the nearest aircraft to the camera (which just happened to be an F-14A Tomcat) was the emblem the Razgriz adopted; colorful in stark relief to the black bodies of the Tomcat in the picture. On the wall next to that painting was an oil painting of the article picture sitting on Bartlett's desk.

In the silence of the hanger each pilot went to the fighters chosen for this memorial flight but not before stopping at a small shrine next to a candid picture of the deceased Demon of Razgriz. Each pilot approached the small shrine and either said a silent prayer or lit one of the incense sticks provided. The shrine consisted of a locker of the type commonly found in squadron ready rooms aboard ship. Hanging in the locker was Chopper's back Razgriz flightsuit and his Razgriz flight jacket. On the shelf above the flightsuit was the only thing of Chopper's recovered from his crash; his Razgriz helmet still showing the scars from the crash and soot from the resulting fire. If one looked close enough, one could see small copper brown patches of dried blood. No one looked close though, they considered it sacrosanct.

After paying his respects to the shrine, Pops followed Bartlett over to the record player that had been salvaged from Sand Island before it was shut down. Looking down at the dusty record sitting on the player, the older man looked in Blaze's direction. Blaze just nodded as he prepared to climb the boarding ladder for his black painted F/A-18C Hornet. Pops flipped a switch on the side of the old player and the sounds of an old song stared playing through the speakers in the hanger. When the music started to play, Nagase looked over at her husband.

"It was his favorite song. He always used to play it in his quarters on Sand Island. Next time you see Genette, ask him about it. The night Archer joined us, Chopper had been listening to that record in his quarters before the surprise attack.", came the calm soft voice of Blaze Thomas.

Major Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was not what one person would thing when asked what a fighter pilot looked like. Slightly taller than his wife and with a close cut mop of reddish brown hair, Blaze looked more like a college fraternity boy getting ready to play some prank. However, those who knew him well knew that Blaze's voice could crack like a whip when needed. They also knew that on the ground, Blaze was somewhat quiet and unassuming. Once the quiet man with the sharp eyes and soft voice strapped on his fighter, Blaze became the deadliest fighter pilot ever to fly the skies; deadlier than any ace that came before him. If Edge, Archer, Chopper, and Swordsman had been asked who the best was, all of them would say unequivocally that Ian 'Blaze' Thomas was the Demon King when it came down to the Demons of Razgriz. Blaze could outfly anyone, anytime, and in any fighter. During the war, he took on the leader of the dreaded Grabaecr and Ofnir fighter squadrons and triumphed. Flying a Tomcat in the air battle over Sudentor in Nord Belka, Blaze took on the man who declared him and the rest traitors to Osea; Colonel Hamilton. What made it such an amazing aerial feat was that Hamilton was flying a top of the line MiG 1.44 that could out maneuver Blaze's Tomcat on a whim.

Snow remembered when, during the battle in the ravine, Blaze took out an enemy ace known as Swordkill-who just happened to be flying in one of those dammed maneuverable speedsters known as 'Typhoon' while downing a Yuke AH-64 Apache gunship and sinking a gunboat with his cannon. Snow still shook his head in awe each time he thought of that mission.

As he strapped himself into his own Hornet, Grimm remembered the day after Nagase had ejected after being shot down on the POW rescue mission. Blaze had charged ahead in full Zone Five afterburners, downing enemy fighters left and right as he used his radar homing and warning gear to search for Edge. That day, had been harrowing because for a moment, just as they were getting close enough to call the Sea Goblin helicopter in, a Yuke E-767 had jammed everyone's frequency, blocking the signal from Edge's beacon. Blaze had shot down that 767 before going on to kill another enemy ace flying one of the more maneuverable aircraft of the war. Daredevil, the enemy pilot, was piloting an X-29 and was making things hard for the rescue helo to get in and affect its rescue of Edge. Archer had watched as, almost as an afterthought, Blaze had launched a heat-seeking missile at Daredevil while pursuing another F/A-18 that had locked on to Chopper.

For Edge, the one thing she remembered about her husband from the war was his attitude. No matter what the odds were against them, even if the fighters he returned to base were more swiss cheese than aircraft, Blaze always looked forward towards the day when the war would end. Edge remembered being scared shitless over Sudentor when they had to fly through the tunnel to destroy the SOLG's command console buried in the middle of the mountain. She hadn't shown it at the time because Blaze hadn't shown his fear. Even when Hamilton followed them in the tunnel and started shooting and they couldn't maneuver too much, Blaze just kept his cool and made his approach to the console before popping off two missiles and hurrying to try and get out of the tunnel before the mountain exploded.

Blaze, for his part, thought about Chopper. His loud laugh, his challenge to Blaze to see who got the highest kill score on that mission they had to destroy the UAV's trying to spy on Sand Island. Blaze also remembered the day Chopper died, his voice even though resigned to his fate never once loosing that cocky attitude of his that served him till the end.

Finished with his reminiscing, Blaze looked out at the other aircraft to check on the status of his wingmen. Each of his friends were strapped in and awaiting his signal. Looking over to his right, Blaze saw Swordsman and Archer glancing at him in anticipation with smiles concealed by oxygen masks and tinted helmet faceshields. Shifting his attention to his left, Blaze grinned as he saw Edge blow him a kiss before sealing up her own oxygen mask. Raising his left hand, Blaze brought it down. At the same time eight jet engines lit off with an incredible roar. Listening carefully to his engine, Blaze heard something odd and out of place. Somewhere behind him a pair of engines had left off with a deeper roar than the twin engines of his Hornet. Swiveling his head to the read, Blaze saw that Bartlett had decided to join them on this flight and was sitting in the open cockpit of one of the Razgriz Phantoms. To Blaze this was highly unusual, Bartlett never joined them on this flight unless there was something he had on his mind. Ignoring the uneasiness that began to permeate his psyche, Blaze activated the switch to close his canopy. In his minds eye, he could see that the canopy's on his wingmen's fighters were closing in concert with has as if they had planned it that way.

Once his canopy was closed and locked, Blaze looked forward and saw the massive hanger doors opening. Once the doors were wide enough to let him and his flight out, he released his brakes and advanced his throttles to the flight idle position. Slowly, gracefully the Demons of Razgriz taxied their aircraft out behind him in order. Turning to the active runway, Blaze waited till Edge lined up on his left side while Archer, Swordsman, and Heartbreak One lined up behind him. When the time was right and everything looked as well as it would ever get, Blaze uttered those two famous words.

"Razgriz; Launch!"

As the words died on his lips, Blaze pushed his throttles to max thrust and felt his fighter leap forward and start building speed. A hundred yards down the runway, he pushed his throttles into the Zone 5 position and raw jet fuel was dumped into the engines where it flashed into incandescence. Blaze felt the increase in power as his afterburners kicked in. Another five hundred yards or so down the runway, Blaze gently pulled back on his control stick and his fighter leapt into the air with ease. Keying the radio, he spoke the next phrase he remembered from the war.

"Razgriz, altitude restriction cancelled."

He heard the voices as the other four fighters in his flight acknowledged in order: first Edge, then Archer, then Swordsman, and finally Bartlett. Together the four Demons of Razgriz flew into the encompassing darkness, each pilot lost in his or her thoughts but still flying in tight formation.

Back on the ground, Pops watched as the orange glow from five sets of afterburners winked out. Bartlett and the Razgriz wouldn't be back for a few hours and he had to prep the hanger for their return. Hitting the button on his remote that closed the massive doors, Pops turned towards the operations building. He wanted to listen in to the radio communications between his friends. He was almost at the door of the operations building when he heard a sniffling sound. Turning in the direction of the noise, Pops walked around the building. He was a third of the way around when he came upon the slight figure sitting in the snow with its back against the building. Approaching closer to the figure, he saw that it was a young woman and the young lady was holding a picture of some sort in her hand.

"Are you alright, miss?", asked Pops as he came closer.

The woman jumped up at the sound of his voice and hastily drew a hand across her face to wipe away the tears that had been there. Coming closer, he saw that the lady was a young airman second class and one of his students.

"I'm fine sir.", she answered.

"I do hope you realize that right now you are supposed to be in your quarters asleep. You have a long day of training ahead of you tomorrow. I could report you to the colonel for your being out here and you could find yourself in deep trouble."

"Yes sir, I understand sir. But I couldn't sleep and decided to go out and get some fresh air. I was putting on a jacket when I heard some planes takeoff. I wondered who would be out flying so late and rushed out to see but was only able to catch a glimpse of the planes as they left the ground. Would you happen to know who it was that took off?"

Pops groaned mentally, he was going to have a hard time trying to explain to this fledgling aviator that the persons who had just launched was nothing for her to be concerned about. Changing the subject, he asked the woman why she had been crying.

"I was just remembering my father sir. I never got to meet him. He died during the war when I was only a few weeks old.", said the pilot trainee.

Pops began to get a real bad feeling. Something told him that he knew exactly who the woman was talking about. Returning his attention to the young lady, he tuned in to the rest of her story.

"My parents were never married but after my maternal grandparents disowned my mom for being in love with my father, she wasted no time in changing her last name to his. I guess it was a way of severing herself from her past."

"Tell me your name airman.", requested Pops.

The young woman looked at him with dark brown eyes and thought a minute before she spoke. When she did, she spoke so softly that he had to lean in to hear her.

"Davenport. Alina Harriet Davenport."

_**"Well shit. This could be a problem.", **thought Pops. _

Taking off his jacket and draping over the young airman's shoulder, he led her into the building.

"When he returns, I believe the colonel will want to talk to you.", stated Pops as he led Airman Davenport over to a chair.

It was coming up on one in the morning when Pops heard the sounds of aircraft on final approach. Looking out the window he saw that the first aircraft flaring for its landing was the Hornet belonging to Archer. Once Archer landed the others followed with a grace that belied the evening's flight. Each aircraft touched down in the exact same spot Archer had before rolling out and heading in the direction of the special hanger. Last to land was Blaze. As he taxied in, the other four aircraft let his plane g by before following him into the hanger after Pops had opened the door. Standing in front of the operations building, Pops figured that it would take at least another forty-five minutes before the pilots made their way to Bartlett's office.

When the forty-five minutes had passed, Pops made his way up to the second floor with airman Second class Davenport in tow. Coming around the corner he saw Bartlett standing by the open door of his office. Clearing his throat to get the colonel's attention, Pops waved him over. Bartlett approached while casting a look at the trainee pilot hiding behind the older man.

"Pops, what's going on? Who's that?", asked Bartlett.

"One of my trainees, after the others leave for their quarters will you listen to her story? I believe you'll find it interesting."

"Yeah sure, what could be so interesting about her story?"

"It's not just that, it's who she's related to."

Bartlett lifted an eyebrow in surprise before turning his attention to the young lady trying not to cringe at his attention. He asked her what her name was.

"My name is Airman Second Class Alina Harriet Davenport. I'm here to learn how to fly fighters. It's the only way that I can be close to my father. He flew fighters but died in the last war a few weeks before I was born. This way I feel as if I'll actually get to know my father.", stated the airman proudly.

Bartlett could see that as she recited her spiel, she was standing taller and using the strength to get her through her fear of talking with the base commander. When she was finished, Bartlett asked one question.

"What is your father's name?"

When he heard the response, the colonel's eyes got very wide. Bartlett stammered for a bit before turning to his old friend.

"Keep her here. I gotta talk to the others. But when we're finished I most definitely want to hear her story. I believe the others will as well.", stated Bartlett before entering his office and closing the door behind him.

Pops turned to the young lady and with an award winning smile told her some good news.

"Tomorrow I think you're going to learn more about your father than you ever thought possible. But be ready because your training load just increased tenfold. I hope you can handle it.'

"Sir, I can handle anything thrown at me."

"We'll see, Airman Davenport. We'll see.'

In the office, Bartlett looked at the hostile faces gathered around his desk. As he had thought, the pilots had seen the map. Deciding to take the problem head on, he faced the Razgriz and waited for the questions to start. Blaze opened the discussion.

"So this is the reason you chose to fly with us tonight. You were wondering how to tell us about this.", Blaze stated simply.

"I see, this is what Pops was referring to.", added Snow.

Bartlett nodded.

"Yeah, this is what Pops was talking about. This country here needs your help. Or to be more precise, they need the help of the Razgriz."

"We did our time in combat. What makes you think that this country Asran, needs us.", snapped Edge.

"Because if we don't help them, the whole balance of power will shift and the fragile peace that you've worked so hard to bring about will fragment. With what I've learned, if Asran looses then an even bigger war will take place. And this time it won't be a localized thing. It will be a war encompassing the entire world as we know it. People long thought out of power will move back in and this time Yuktobania and Osea will be fighting to preserve our very way of life. Several representatives from the besieged land will be arriving in a few weeks to explain everything in detail."

The four pilots grumbled among each other for a moment before Blaze turned to the colonel and asked what there is could bring them to fight again. Bartlett thought for a moment before replying simply.

"The 8492nd has returned. Through the reconstituted Grabaecr and Ofnir Squadrons, they are training their new allies in better air combat tactics and are also practically giving away aircraft we faced during the last war. Do you know what that means to the small country of Asran? They need our help whether it is in training or materials. If we don't help Asran and they loose this war, there is a strong possibility that the Grey Men will return to power. This time they will hold two countries under their sway. What is your decision?'

The office was quiet for a bit as each pilot envisioned the ramifications of a new and more powerful Belka with help from another country not blocked by either Yuktobania or Osea. In the end there was only one thing that could be said and Blaze said it.

"We're in. Tell us what we can do to prevent this."

Bartlett nodded. He'd hated to bring the subject up but he knew that the inherent righteousness held by each of the pilots in front of him would stand out. They always wanted to help people in need, even if it meant fighting again. Bartlett sat down and began to explain about the Asran Royal Air Force.

**1900 Hours. Four days later. Area 88**

Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was furious. Here she was standing on the flight line of Area 88 without a fighter. She wanted to fly her own aircraft to this destination where the assistance that her cousin had arranged through back channels so she could show them her own skills. Unfortunately, McCoy hadn't been able to fill her order for a new Mirage F-1. The supply lines were down, victims of a sneak attack by the new benefactors of the rebels. Mickey Simon, Shin Kazama, and Kim had scrambled to give what aide they could to the beleaguered supply depot when they got the call but the trio had been too late. Now Shin's Tiger II was in the shop for some minor maintenance. As the enemy were egressing the area, Shin and the rest of Double Echo flight had came screaming in, only to get bounced by a new rebel aircraft that defied their best efforts to destroy. When the trio returned to base, the only thing they could agree on was the fact that the design of the aircraft was different from anything they'd ever seen before. For one, Mickey noticed that the wings were swept forward instead of back like a conventional aircraft. He surmised that the design aided the fighters' maneuverability immensely.

Glaring at her watch, Kitori thought back to the day after he debriefing after she had bailed out. Saki had sent her on a mission to find Shin Kazama and Mickey Simon. Both had left Area 88 after their war ended and their contracts ran out. Shin had returned to Japan to marry his fiancée (who'd waited for him all this time, much to Kitori's disbelief. She didn't thinks he would've waited for her fiancé if she'd been in the same predicament) and was making a good living teaching people how to fly. Mickey had returned to his home and reconnected with is family but had left again when he couldn't find a flying job to his satisfaction. Since then, he'd been bouncing around the world helping different air forces train new generations of fighter pilots for national defense. Mickey had just missed the war between Yuktobania and Osea by several weeks. He'd flew out of a small city in Yuktobania just before they declared war. He'd returned home and that was where Saki's message caught up with him. Upon hearing of the new rebel menace, Mickey had found a way across the ocean and returned to Area 88 where his beloved Tomcat sat waiting for him. It had taken all of twenty minutes of refam flying to get the former mercenary back up to speed.

Kazama had returned two days after Mickey but had argued with Saki about his living arrangements. He wanted to bring his wife and Saki had told him no. In retaliation, Shin had threatened to not return and said that he didn't care what happened. In the end, Saki had relented and allowed Shin and his wife to move into Shin's old barracks building after some renovations had been made.

Now glaring about the flight line, Kitori waited for the others in her flight to join her on the flight line. Since she didn't have a fighter, Kitori was being relegated to riding in the backseat of Mickey's Tomcat.

"_Dammitalltohell!_ Of all the places I'd rather be, riding as a passenger to in Mickey's fighter isn't one of them. Why didn't my oh so loving cousin just get me a temporary fighter so I could have my own hands on a control stick, regardless if it was my own fighter or not. To top everything off that dammed McCoy got his hands on a helmet that's a size too large and didn't take the time to get it painted right. SHIT THIS SUCKS!!!", ranted Kitori.

Nobody paid the attractive baroness any attention; they were busy trying to get fighters ready for the next air battle. The majority of the maintenance guys were working on Shin's fighter with alacrity. Since he was the best pilot in Area 88, their fellow mercs wanted his aircraft to be at its best. They wanted to show that this mercenary air force was as strac as any official air force in the world.

Kitori was watching the ground crew attach five hundred pound drop tanks to their usual hardpoints on the three fighters when a commotion over by the headquarters building caught her attention. Shifting her gaze in that direction, Kitori's mouth dropped as Saki's SEPECAT Jaguar was towed out to the flight line and parked next to Shin's F-5E. The cockpit canopy raised and Kitori watched as her cousin climbed down from his cockpit.

Wearing a perfectly pressed and creased brown flightsuit, Saki made his way over to his cousin. Seeing the look of intense anger on her face, he decided to let her cool off before he started talking. Ignoring Kitori for the moment, Saki watched as the groundcrew added drop tanks to his fighter as well as the others. They had a long flight ahead and it was lucky that his contact had assured them that once the fuel in their drop tanks was used up, there would be KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft for them to refuel from as they made their way to location set up for the meet.

When his contact had given him the coordinates of their destination, Saki made sure to keep those coordinates to himself. Grabbing a map of the general area he had plotted the coordinates on his map only to come up with a location out in the middle of the ocean. Disenchanted, he had gotten in touch with his contact and complained that the coordinates she gave him were faulty and led to nowhere.

"Trust me Colonel Vashtal. Those coordinates I gave you are correct. The location is a former air base where the people you are going to meet flew out of. When you arrive, you and your pilots will be met. Please bring all information you have on the rebel pilots and their help that you have. If my people decide to go further with their help, you will follow them to their home base further north. I hope that you and your people bring your cold weather gear. You ultimate destination is very cold this time of year.", came the accented female voice over the phone.

"Will you be there to met us?", asked Saki.

The voice had laughed and to the Asranian Prince it had a melodic sound with an underlying tone of steel.

"No your highness, I won't be there. I have other things to take care of. Do not worry we'll meet sooner than you realize.", answered the mysterious woman.

When Saki didn't reply, the woman had started to hang up but Saki cut in again with another request.

"One of my pilots doesn't have an aircraft. Do you think you can allow her to borrow one of yours?"

"Ah, you mean your cousin the baroness? Yes I believe we'll have something lying around. Does she have any preferences other than the Mirage F-1 she used to fly? We don't have one of those in inventory but I believe we'll have the F-1's equivalent. It will be waiting at the coordinates I gave you."

Saki had been shocked, this woman knew about his cousin and his rank in the family hierarchy. He wondered what he should call her and expressed his concern when he offered her his thanks. They mysterious woman again caught him off guard.

"You can call me mystery woman number one. We shall talk later."

Before the mysterious lady had hung up, Saki could've sworn he heard a baby crying in the background.

Now Saki Vashtal stood on the flight line in the desert heat waiting for his handlers to finish loading the drop tanks and some missiles on to his fighter. He didn't want to make the entire jaunt to this mysterious base that didn't appear on any maps completely unarmed. With the shells for his cannon and the missiles on their hardpoints, Saki's Jaguar was armed well enough to defend against any enemy, however with those five hundred pound drop tanks his maneuverability was compromised. Next to him stood his cousin the Baroness Palvanoff who-one day in the far future-would be his wife. Saki wasn't looking forward to that day. He knew that she was planning revenge for his actions in the meeting a few days previous.

_**"And she'll have a long time to prepare an extra devilish revenge.", **thought Saki as he watched the other three members of this flight approach the flightline. _

Shin Kazama, Mickey Simon, and Kim approached Saki and Kitori. They exchanged greetings and salutations before continuing to watch as the work on their fighters finished up.

"Kazama, do you think the hasty repairs to your fighter will hold up to this long trip? I would hate to have you eject or return to base because something went wrong.", asked Saki.

"You mean that you'd rather I survive so you don't have to face the wrath of my wife.", commented the blonde haired and soft spoken pilot.

Saki acknowledged the pilots words with a graceful defeat. It was true; he didn't want to face an angry Ryouko Kazama. She was fierce when she was angry. Shin's wife had already cussed out Kitori for staring a shade bit too long at her husband. That had been a big thing among the pilots on base, the cool baroness getting read the riot act by a woman not even a pilot and half Kitori's height.

Glancing at his watch, his eyes shaded by his ever present sunglasses, Saki motioned for his pilots to head to their machines and prepare for flight. Watching the others walk towards their aircraft (Kitori already haranguing Mickey for no reason), the head of the Royal Asranian Mercenary Air Force climbed aboard his own aircraft and let the ground crew help strap him in. With his auxiliary power unit already on and his aircraft hooked up to the high pressure huffer, Saki's Jaguar was ready for him to start his engines. With a quick glance at his instruments and another to check on the other members of his flight, Colonel Vashtal waved away the excess ground crewmen and let the necessary ones know that he was preparing to start his engine.

Depressing the engine igniter switch, he looked at his instruments closely as the start cart continued to send high pressure air to his turbines to get them slowly spinning. Opening the fuel flow to the engine, Saki let go of his igniter switch and listened as his engines caught on the first try with a hellish moan. Bringing his one running engine up to ground idle, he opened up the cross feed from engine number one to engine number two and allowed the air from that engine to start his second engine. Within minutes all of the members of 'Double Echo' flight had their engines as idle. With a quick communications check with the tower and his wingmen, Saki let off the brakes and taxied to the runway.

Once on the runway, Saki waited for everyone to get into position before radioing his intentions to the Area 88 Tower. The wished him and the rest of his flight good luck. With one more quick check with his wingmen to check if everything was alright with their instruments and aircraft. Receiving positive acknowledgements from Shin, Mickey, Kim, and angry mumblings from Kitori in Mickey's backseat; Colonel Saki Vashtal, Prince of Asran pushed his throttles to the stops and released his brakes. The classic aircraft streaked down the runway with Shin's Tiger II, Mickey's Tomcat, and Kim's Harrier following at fifteen second intervals.

Once his flight was in the air and situated in a loose formation, Saki set his navigation computer to the coordinates he'd been given, programmed his fuel system to take fuel from the drop tanks first before using the fuel in the main wing and belly tanks then leaned back and relaxed his hands on his control stick.

It was going to be a long flight.

_**And that, my faithful readers is the start of my Area 88 x Ace Combat 5 (The Unsung War) crossover. I hope you enjoyed reading this first chapter as much as I enjoyed writing it. I would greatly appreciate it if I could get feedback from everyone who reads it. If people show interest, I may go ahead and continue this story. SO it's up to you to persuade me to continue it. **_

**_If I do continue this story, it'll have to take a backseat to some of my other stories for a short bit. I have to bring my attention back to 'Sylvia's Solitary Soldier', 'Agents and Operatives' and 'A Day in the Life of the Sun King'. Right now those three stories are my more important works. In addition to those three I'll also be splitting time between working on 'Robotech: Child of Khyron', 'Setsuna's Sun Prince', and 'The Taking of Shego'. _**

**_To those Evangelion fans, I'm still working on 'Saga of the Seventh Child'; I've just been concentrating on other stories right now. That goes the same for 'The Further Adventures of the Irresponsible Captain', don't be sad though, I will update them as soon as I can. For my other stories I'll work on them when I get the chance, I'm kind of hunting for some inspiration on those but believe you me, they'll be updated before you know it. _**

**_In my mind I have a few stories that I could possibly start within the next few weeks or months. One of those is a story based on the anime Vandread (I think B.C. is a major hottie and a half!J). Another is a Robotech story concentrating on a 'what if' scenario involving Ben Dixon and Seloy Deparra. The tentative title on that is 'Dixon and Deparra'. I haven't completely made up my mind on whether I should write it or not but I'm receiving some positive feedback from some of the members of _**

_**So that is all for now my friends, remember: Keep on Writing and Reading!!**_

_**Knightewolfe**_

_**Knightewolfe's Lair**_

_**10/06**_


	2. ZeroZero Section meets the Razgriz

To those who want me to continue this story, here it is

the second chapter of my Area 88/Ace Combat 5:

_The Unsung War _crossover.

As always, please read and enjoy!!

**Disclaimer: TV Asashi owns Area 88 **

**while Ace Combat 5 is owned by Namco. **

_**Area 88**_

_**Return of the Razgriz**_

**_Chapter 2: _**

**_Zero-Zero Section meets the Ghosts of Razgriz._**

**1130 Hours. 200 Miles West of Sand Island Air Base. **

The sky was a vivid blue, a blue that could only be seen by someone flying in it. Colonel Saki Vashtarl grinned under his oxygen mask as he led the four best pilots in the direction specified by the lady he knew only as 'Mystery Woman Number One'. Leading the diamond formation in his SEPECAT Jaguar, the Asranian Prince realized that he was where he'd always wanted to be. Glancing out of his cockpit to his left after a quick scan of his gauges, Vashtarl saw the blue and white paint scheme of Shim Kazama's F-5E Tiger sitting as if he were glued to a spot ten feet off of Saki's wing. Shifting his gaze over to his right he saw that the AV-8B Harrier II of the young Kim Aba was pacing him almost as perfectly as Kazama was on the opposite wing. Swiveling his head around to his rear, the head of the Royal Asranian Air Force was barely able to see the menacing front end of Mickey Simon's F-14A Tomcat with Saki's cousin (and future wife) riding in Mickey's backseat.

Saki frowned as he thought back to how hostile Kitori had been when they had first climbed out over the ocean after leaving Area 88. She wouldn't shut the hell up and kept complaining over the radio about everything. If it wasn't about Mickey's flying style, the baroness was bitching about Kim having an airplane to fly while she had none. Ever since the loss of her beloved Mirage F-1, his cousin wasn't in her usually happy mood. Vashtarl didn't hold it against her though. She, like the rest of the group, was a fighter pilot and highly preferred to have a control stick in her hand instead of riding as extra cargo in somebody else's well-loved fighter. Simon had already been cussed out and threatened with bodily harm after cracking wise about Kitori's weight and wanting to charge her for extra poundage. Saki had winced in commiseration as his cousin had verbally blasted the American for a good twenty minutes over the intercom system installed in his 'Cat just for this flight. Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was an extraordinarily beautiful woman with near perfect measurements. She was also, if she so chose to flaunt it, extremely wealthy.

"Double Echo Lead to Double Echo flight; everything alright?", asked Saki over the radio.

"Double Echo Two, everything is fine." – Kazama.

"Double Echo Three, nothing to report." - Kim.

"Double Echo Four, just cruisin' Double Echo leader." – Mickey

Saki chuckled to himself as he heard the note of laughter in Mickey's voice.

"Can we just shut the hell up and get to where we're going? I'm tired of riding back here in this dark smelly pit.", snarled Kitori.

"Awww, you're just jealous Kitori. Next time order a fighter with two engines so you can get away. No single engine light fighter can beat my 'cat in a straight out aerial drag race. Maybe you should ask the guys at our destination if they have an extra -14 for you.", chuckled Mickey in reply.

"Mickey, I wouldn't fly a big unmaneuverable dump truck like this if you and I were the last two people on Earth and we had to repopulate the whole damn planet. I'll accept grounding before front seating a Tomcat in combat. Damn thing's just a big radar target in my opinion.", snapped Kitori in response to Mickey's teasing.

In the front seat of his aircraft, Mickey glared at the woman in his rearview mirror; a Tomcat unable to maneuver? How preposterous. Deciding to show the hostile aerial beauty just how maneuverable his bird was, Mickey advanced his throttles to the stops and dove under his flight lead before kicking in his afterburners and pulling straight up into a ballistic climb. As he passed the other members of his flight, he jammed the right rudder pedal all the way to the stops and rolled the large aircraft around its longitudinal axis several times, demonstrating its ability to roll 270 degrees a second before jerking his stick to the left, activating his wing sweep override and letting the Cat do a perfect one eighty and end up less than three feet from and about a thousand feet above where he started.

"How's that for unmaneuverable, baby? Ya gotta problem wit it? Ya ever wanna get into an angles fight with me; just say the word and I'll be there. Just like the Tomcat motto 'Anytime, Anywhere Baby!'", chortled Mickey as Kitori spluttered over the ICS circuit.

The baroness had nearly come close to tasting her breakfast for the second time that morning with Mickey's reckless stunt.

Three thousand feet above the members of Double Echo Flight flew five aircraft. They had been pacing the fighters below ever since they'd heard from their airborne control and early warning aircraft flying at near fifty thousand feet. The AWACS had tracked been tracking Double Echo ever since the people from Area 88 had entered their area of operations. Not acknowledging the call verbally (thus ruining their observations on the skill of the Double Echo bunch) the flight lead of the five aircraft had just clicked his mic and continuing with his observations.

Off to the left of the flight lead, an F-4G Phantom flew his number two and three in the formation. The other two aircraft in the flight, aircraft four and five did the same on his right side. To the casual observer if they were able to see the flight from the ground, it looked as if four other aircraft were trying to surround the Phantom. If the observer looked closely at the formation, he or she would be confused as they saw what looked to be an aircraft flying backwards.

Blaze Thomas grinned into his oxygen mask as he heard a whistle over their secured radio frequency. The guy flying the Tomcat below them was pretty damn good. That maneuver he had pulled had impressed them all, especially Swordsman.

"Damn, whoever is driving that 'Cat is good. It may be a -14A but it flies more like my -14D. Whomever maintains the engines on that bird must know a helluva lot about Tomcats.", commented Swordsman Snow.

"Hahahah, I think you may be outclassed there Five. That pilot looks as if he can fly rings around you!", chuckled Archer Grimm.

"Stifle it meathead! Just because your Eagle is faster than my Tomcat and can actually break mach speed unity going vertical, I'll still beat you five outta five times in a 1 v 1, ya young cub.", retorted Swordsman.

The pilot of the Phantom just growled over his ICS to his backseater before jumping in to the conversation himself.

"Archer, Swordsman both of you shut it! You ladies, can shake your dicks at each other later but for now you two maintain formation and SHUT THE HELL UP!", snapped Heartbreak One.

The two less-enthused pilots responded to the command with quiet acknowledgments. Over in his aircraft Blaze chuckled to himself. Looking over to his left he saw his wife shaking her head. He could see that in her cockpit thirty feet away that she was shaking with her own brand of silent laughter. An idea popped in his head and he saw a way to test the pilots in the aircraft below. Looking over at the Tiger on his left, Blaze waved his left arm in an exaggerated fashion so Edge could see him.

Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas was chuckling to herself at the rebuke her old flight instructor shot in the Snow's and Grimm's direction. Leaning back in her ejection seat, Edge sighed to herself and thought about what her children were doing at the moment. Looking to her right, Edge was a bit surprised to see her husband waving his hand like a chimpanzee on a caffeine buzz. Wondering what he wanted, she allowed her aircraft to drift a little bit closer. Kei watched as Ian flashed his fingers in pattern. It took her a few seconds and one repetition to get what he was asking her to do.

"Now why does my dear husband want me to switch over to Orange Five, our private frequency, on the back radio?", said Edge to herself.

Giving Blaze a thumbs up with her right hand while reaching over to her back radio with her left, Edge locked in a non-standard scramble pattern. Thus if anyone was actually able to figure out what channel Orange Five was, all they would hear when they switched to it was random noise. Once the frequency and scramble pattern was locked in, Edge gave Blaze a call.

"Yes dear, what is it?', stated Edge in her most seductive voice while thanking her lucky stars that no one knew her and her husband's private frequency.

"You know I love it when you speak like that hon and I'll be looking forward to partaking of what your voice is promising but this call is about something else. Ya wanna have some aerial fun with our visitors?", came the voice of her husband.

Just from listening to his tone of voice, Edge knew her husband was thinking about doing something devious. Usually she loved his playful side but now wasn't the time with several million dollars of aircraft and several tens of thousands of pounds of high explosives and flammable hi-test jet fuel. Cautiously, she asked what he planned to do.

"Oh, nothing much darling, just a test to see how steely their nerves are.", replied Blaze coyly.

Edge grew worried, when her usually quiet and strait-laced husband started talking coyly; he was trying to ease her worries. Deciding to skip the actions this time, she told him that she would sit this one out.

"Okay, it's your decision. But I think you're missing out. I'll be careful. Blaze out."

Kei acknowledged his transmission and switched back to her main radio. Debating on whether or not to let the colonel know what her husband was planning, Edge watched as Blaze's aircraft-with its unusual forward swept wing-design-slowed down and let the others edge ahead.

In the Phantom, Pops sat in the backseat usually occupied by a Radar Intercept Office on combat missions. He'd been playing with the radar system in front of him and had been watching the other four aircraft (what he could see of them) as the five ship continued to fly in formation. Out of the corner of his experienced eyes, something caught his attention. The man formerly known as Huckabein the Raven shifted his attention to the action and tried to figure out what was going on as the X-29 flying off Bartlett's left wing started dropping back. Tapping the floor mounted intercom switch with his left foot, he alerted the pilot in front of him.

"Hey Bartlett, Kid's got something planned. He's slowed way down and allowed us to ease ahead of him a bit.", stated Pops as he kept an eye on Blaze's aircraft.

Bartlett sputtered for a moment before checking it out for himself. Seeing that his backseater was correct, Bartlett started to fume.

"That sonuva…..! Get on the back-up radio and call that asshole. Inform him that if he doesn't return to his position I'll punch his lights out!", snarled Bartlett.

Pops told Bartlett he would and then proceeded to call Blaze on his back-up radio. As he expected, Blaze didn't answer. Up front, Bartlett was cussing up a storm. He knew that if Blaze had something planned; he couldn't resist telling his wife. Usually, Edge would coax her occasionally impulsive husband out of whatever it was he had planned. Although there were times when she happily and joyously joined in the mayhem he created. Rumor had it that Kita, Kei and Ian's daughter, was the end result of one of Blaze and Edge's more noteworthy adventures.

Hearing no reply from his wayward pilot, Bartlett told Pops to forget about contacting Blaze and to, instead, call Edge and find out what her idiotic husband was planning. Pops demurred and pointed out that whatever Blaze had planned, it was too late to stop it. Bartlett cursed again as he watched the reverse swept wing X-29 accelerated then pitched down into a nearly vertical dive.

"Aww shit, he's gonna get us in deep trouble. We're about seventy miles from our destination. And friggin Uncle Vinnie is watching. Shit."

"Bartlett, you might want to go ahead and give Oka Nieba a call and have them go ahead and make contact with those guys below us. Make sure AWACS Oka Nieba gets an acknowledgement from them and make sure that those guys don't pop off a missile at Blaze by mistake.", replied Pops.

Bartlett nodded and contacted the big E-767 Sentry aircraft orbiting with its fighter coverage almost six hundred miles away and flying fifteen thousand feet higher than his present altitude.

"Heartbreak One calling Oka Nieba."

"Go ahead Heartbreak One, you have AWACS Oka Nieba. What can I do for you?", answered one of the controllers.

"Ahh, Oka Nieba can you give Double Echo Lead a call and let him know that you have him on radar. Have Double Echo Lead contact me on this channel. Also give him a heads up about Igloo Two. My wingman's decided to announce himself.", stated Bartlett.

"Copy that Heartbreak One. Contact Double Echo and have him contact you on this freq. Also give Double Echo Lead a heads up about Igloo Two. We'll get it done.", replied the controller.

The controller was about to contact Double Echo Lead and have him contact Bartlett on his frequency when Bartlett cut back in.

"Oka Nieba, make damn sure that Double Echo is 'weapons safe'! I don't want them popping off a missile at Igloo Deuce!"

"Affirmative Heartbreak One. Confirm Double Echo is weapons safe."

Bartlett copied the transmission from the controller and sat back to wait for the leader of the flight below to contact him.

Meanwhile, Saki listened as Kitori bickered with Kim over some slight or another and he was beginning to get really tired of his cousins' bad attitude. Saki knew that Kitori was acting the way because sitting in the backseat of Mickey's Tomcat made her feel as if she wasn't in control. Like most pilots (Saki himself included) Kitori hated the feeling of helplessness she experienced when she was riding as a passenger in somebody else's aircraft and frankly, it unnerved her. Praying to all the gods he had been taught about from his time as a child to the present, Saki hoped that their benefactors had something for Kitori to fly.

"This is AWACS Oka Nieba calling Double Echo lead. Come in Double Echo.", radioed an unknown voice.

At that request, Kim and Kitori halted their argument (much to Saki's relief) and wondered who was calling. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, Saki replied.

"AWACS Oka Nieba, you have Double Echo Lead. Go ahead."

"Double Echo, you're requested to squawk one-two-one-five and switch three-zero-three-point-one and contact Heartbreak One."

"Copy that Oka Nieba. Double Echo squawking and switching.", returned Saki as he changed his IFF to the requested setting and switched to the proper radio frequency.

Clearing his throat, Saki made the call.

"Heartbreak One, you have Double Echo Lead up on 303.1."

"Double Echo, Heartbreak One. Confirm you are at weapons tight?"

_**"Weapons Tight? Why the hell does he want me to confirm that my weapons are safe?"**, wondered Saki as he checked to make sure his 'Master Arm' switch was in the safe position. _

Alongside Saki's Jaguar, Shin Kazama listened as Mickey, Kim, and Kitori complained about the request by the other voice on the radio. It was threatening to escalate into verbal abuse when Saki curtly ordered Mickey and Kim to follow the instructions given by the unknown flight. Shin had already double checked and verified that his weapons weren't armed when the call had first come through. By habit, Kazama searched the sky for the reason Heartbreak One had requested that Saki make sure that his weapons and the weapons of his flight were safe.

Back in the Jaguar, Saki listened as his three pilots checked in and confirmed that their weapons were not armed and their master arm switches were in the 'safe' position. Once that was done he contacted the other aircraft.

"Heartbreak One, Double Echo Lead, all aircraft in Double Echo Flight confirm 'weapons tight' status. Pardon my brusqueness but could you kindly tell me what the hell is going on?"

"Double Echo Lead, I just wanted to make sure that your weapons were safe. I didn't want anyone popping off a missile at my wingman, Igloo Two."

"Heartbreak One, where is your wingma……… shit!!!!", started Saki only to be interrupted when another aircraft flew past no more than ten feet in front of the nose of his aircraft.

The air displaced by the other aircraft jostled the normally stable Jaguar and it took all of Vashtarl's considerable skill to keep from loosing control of his aircraft. Once everything was again stable, Saki looked for the offending aircraft while calming Mickey down. When the Tomcatter had cooled off a bit, Saki went on the radio to complain but was cut off as he listened while Heartbreak One berated his wingman for doing such a damn fool stunt.

_"Dammit Blaze!!! Are You Trying To Cause An International Incident? Those Guys Are Here To Ask For Our Help And You NEARLY Screwed The Pooch! When We Land, You Better Hope That You Make It Out Of Your Cockpit Before I Get There! If You Don't, Not Even Your Wife Will Save Your Reckless Ass!?"_

"Heartbreak One, you're breaking up. Repeat your last transmission.", came a slightly bemused voice.

"_Don't Play That Shit With Me! That Excuse Went Out Years Before Either You Or I Was Born! Even Pops Reports That That Excuse Was Old When He Was Young! DAMMITALLTOHELL!_ _I Thought I Trained You Better Than That!"_

Kitori and Mickey had a laugh at the other pilots' misfortune but cut it short when Saki told them to get off the channel.

In his X-29, Blaze was impressed with the skill shown by the pilot of the F-5 flying on the Jaguar's left wing. He hadn't even flinched when Blaze blew past him at Mach 1.2. The Harrier driver and the Tomcat flinched imperceptibly during the high speed vertical pass; even the Jaguar had a small twitch. The Tiger had made nary a twitch, bobble, or shake.

_**"Either that guy is an exceptional pilot or he's a very scared amateur. I have a feeling that its more of the former than the latter."**, thought Blaze as he moved a little bit closer. _

Shin Kazama watched the unfamiliar aircraft moving in on his left wing. He could sense that its pilot was measuring him to see how good a pilot he was. Shin was a bit impressed himself; the pilot of that strange aircraft handled its small size with an ability that Shin knew was far ahead of his own mastery of the Tiger.

_**"If I had my Crusader, I'd show this guy exactly how good a pilot I am. I'm still kind of getting used to this F-5 Tiger even though I've had it for several years. I knew the Crusader inside and out, top to bottom. Radome to afterburner.", **mused Kazama as he kept watching the other aircraft out of the corner of his eye. _

Bringing his attention back to the radio, Shin could hear Heartbreak One asking Saki if he would clear his flight into close proximity. Saki had granted clearance and then asked the flight lead how he knew they were there.

"Double Echo lead, Oka Nieba's been tracking you by radar for the past six hundred miles. You never knew you were being tracked because the AWACS had been ordered to not make radio contact with you. My flight and I have been tracking you for the past hundred and fifty miles. We just kept our radar's in standby mode and had Oka Nieba keep radar contact on your flight.", returned Heartbreak One.

Saki nodded as he listened to the other flight lead. Looking up through his cockpit canopy, Saki saw sunlight glinting off what could only be another formation of aircraft. Soon the glint resolved itself into four aircraft. Saki recognized the two bigger aircraft as an F-4G Phantom and an F-14 Tomcat (he didn't know if it was an -14A like Mickey's, an F-14B like another new pilots' at Area 88, or the F-14D Super Tomcat he'd been hearing rumors about). As the other formation came closer, he observed that there was another Tiger in the group. However, once the other formation was completely visible, Saki noted that the small aircraft that flew off the wing of the aircraft that he assumed to belong to the leader looked very different from the Tiger off of his own wing. For one thing, it only had a single engine and the cockpit canopy was more bubble-like than the typical Tiger canopy.

Saki was about to ask the leader of his escort to their destination when he heard Mickey's sudden intake of breath.

"Holy….., I can't believe my friggin eyes, a Tigershark; an honest to gawd F-20 Tigershark. I'd heard stories and seen pictures but I never thought I'd live to see the day when I'd be up close and personal with a Tigershark!", breathed the American in awe.

In his backseat, Kitori just rolled her eyes as she listened to Mickey. She didn't see what it was he was all in awe about. It looked like a Tiger with one engine, what could it do in a dogfight? Unimpressed, Kitori snorted in ridicule.

Over in the Jaguar, Saki was curious. He'd never heard of a Tigershark and he knew the basic specs on the majority of the worlds' military fighters. The prince asked the Tomcat driver what exactly the Tigershark could do.

"Geez, colonel, I think the better question would be what can't it do? It shares the same basic frame and fuselage with the F-5 Freedom Fighter and the F-5E Tiger like Kazama's. However with its single engine and enlarged afterburner can, it has about sixty percent more thrust and can maneuver like a bat outta hell. Only problem is, that extra power makes it a bit of a handful to fly. Sir, the Tigershark was often referred too as the badass little brother of the Tiger. In the hands of a competent pilot, I don't think there's a fighter in the world that can beat it. And from the looks of it, that pilot is one of a select few who can extract the full potential out of that bird.", replied Mickey.

Listening in to the radio banter between the two, Kei Nagase-Thomas swelled with pride. She considered the other pilots' words a compliment.

"Now Edge, don't get a swelled head just because he complimented your flying. Don't forget about the abilities of your husband when he's pushing a Tigershark.", came Swordsman's joking voice over her back radio.

Edge snickered then keyed her mic. in reply to the compliment.

"Whoever you are, and whichever aircraft you're in. Thank you for the nice words. However, if you think I'm good in the Tigershark, you should see my husband when he flies an F-20."

Exclamations of surprise came from the members of Double Echo as they realized that the voice replying to Mickey was female. Deciding to play along, Mickey asked Kei where her husband was.

"My husband is the guy flying off the left wing of the Tiger in your formation.", came the reply.

Deducing that the American voice was the guy in the Tomcat with the Playboy bunny on the vertical stabilizer, Blaze pitched up into a climbing turn and barrel rolled. Coming out of the roll, he inverted and positioned himself right above the cockpit of the Tomcat. Seeing the two faces staring goggle-eyed up at him, he waved and barrel rolled again before goosing his throttles and sliding back into position next to Kazama's Tiger.

Kazama studied the other pilot to see how he compared to other pilots he knew. He was bringing his head back forward when he saw the pilot of the aircraft on his wing trying to get his attention. Turning to face the other man, he watched as the pilot tapped his helmet then flashed his fingers. Recognizing that the other pilot wanted to talk to him without either of their wingmates knowing, he switched to the channel indicated.

"Aircraft off my left wing, this is Double Echo Two."

"Double Echo Two, Igloo Deuce here. Call me Blaze. I want to see how good you are. Don't change position.", replied the pilot of the aircraft with the reverse swept wings that looked odd to Shin.

Shin looked questioningly at the other pilot, only to be drop his jaw in shock as the pilot called Blaze barrel rolled his aircraft again. Only this time his roll carried him above Shin's aircraft where he went inverted and positioned his cockpit right over Shin's own cockpit.

Up in his Phantom, Bartlett was going apeshit and trying hard to not let it show in his communications with Double Echo Leader.

_"Blaze what the hell!! Are you trying to get yourself grounded?", r_oared Bartlett.

Pops chuckled from the backseat of the well-cared for Phantom. He figured that Bartlett was pissed off because the kid beat him to doing what he wanted to do himself. Keying the ICS and changing to 'hot mic' he told his pilot to mellow out.

"It's okay Bartlett. Let the Kid do as he pleases. Besides we need to be on final for our destination. We're ten miles out and you Uncle Vinnie hates to be kept waiting. Anyways, I want to see how that Tiger driver handles himself.", stated Pops.

"Yeah yeah yeah. All y'all are ganging up on me today. At least Swordsman and Archer are still doing the smart thing and staying up here. You know that Edge and Blaze are going to be almost insufferable when we land.", griped Bartlett.

Pops agreed and then turned his head to watch the other airplanes.

In the front seat of his Super Tomcat, Swordsman Snow was getting fidgety. He wanted an up close look at that -14A. Marcus loved Tomcats. He lived for them! On the Lotus Turbo Esprit he kept at home; one of the first things he'd done when he purchased it used was have a large version of the Tomcat patch painted on the hood covering his turbocharged V-8 engine. He knew the specs on every Tomcat variant from the F-14A to the F-14A+, to the F-14B (often times called the Bombcat), to the TARPS Tomcat (occasionally referred to as the RF-14) to his own top of the line F-14D Super Tomcat. Swordsman even knew a little about the possible new Tomcat 21 coming out. Rumor had it that when the new 'Cat came out it was going to carry the designation F-14E or F-14F. Whatever it was going to be called, he wanted one. And wanted it badly!

Looking over at the Eagle flying his right wing, Swordsman gave Archer a call.

"Hey Grimm, how much do you wanna bet that I can invert myself over that other Tomcat with my port side vertical stabilizer in between both of his?"

"Awww come on Snow, Bartlett's already pissed off at Blaze. What makes you think he won't jump down your throat for doing something stupid? Give it up man. Let's just land and get to meet these people on the ground. I'm friggin exhausted.", complained Grimm.

"Come on Archer. I know you're just dying to see who's driving that Harrier. I'll give you ten bucks if go along with me on this."

Archer sighed. He knew that Swordsman was going to bother him all the way back to base if he didn't agree.

"Oh alright, but only if you take the blame when the colonel gets pissed off."

"Of course, now follow me."

Together the Tomcat and the Eagle peeled off into a one eighty and came roaring back in above the Double Echo formation. Ignoring the shouting from their flight lead, both Archer and Swordsman slid into position above Kim's Harrier and Mickey's Tomcat. Taking a moment to stabilize his aircraft (not to mention give the other Tomcatter a chance to adjust to the buffeting caused by the close proximity of another similar sized aircraft), Swordsman took out a pen and jotted a quick note down on the top sheet of paper on his kneeboard. Once the note was written, he flipped his Tomcat inverted and held up the message to his canopy so the other pilot could read it.

Mickey was gritting his teeth. It'd been a long time since he'd flown this close to another aircraft. Taking time to glance up through his canopy, he quickly read the note. Once he'd finished reading, he called Kitori over the ICS.

'Kitori, find something to write on and write down that this is an F-14A. Once you got that down, hold it up to the canopy so he can read it."

"Why dammit?"

"Kitori, just do it for shit's sake! I can't; my concentration is on keeping a straight and level path. One of his stabilizers is sitting right in between ours. Any deviation from this flight path will result in a nasty midair."

Kitori grumbled but did as requested. Holding the sheet of paper up, she watched as the other pilot read it, gave her a thumbs up, and then allowed the air to carry his aircraft up and away. Over in his Eagle, Archer slowly rolled over the cockpit of the Harrier and gave the pilot a quick wave before continuing his roll and returning to level flight sitting off of Kim's right wing.

Up in the Phantom, Bartlett had regained control of his temper and was calling Saki on the radio.

"Double Echo Lead, I do apologize for the actions of my wingmen. Most of them should know better."

"It's no problem, Heartbreak One. I know how they feel. I'd felt the same way if I was younger."

Bartlett chuckled to himself. He liked this pilot. Bartlett admired Double Echo's quiet calm voice and the way he handled his machine. When they landed he was going to buy the guy a drink.

"Thanks, Double Echo Lead. You'll get to meet them once we're on the ground. We're less than five miles from our destination. Follow me down. See you on the ground Double Echo."

"Copy that Heartbreak One. See you on the ground."

Saki watched as the Phantom slid up on his right wing and the pilot in the front seat waved before he dropped his nose and banked to the left. Saki gave him a thirty second lead before he followed suit. At thirty second intervals, each trailing aircraft peeled off to enter the landing pattern. Blaze and Shin were the last two still in the air. Edge had just kissed them off before she banked down and began her preparations for landing.

Still inverted over the Tiger, Blaze gave Shin a thumbs up before rolling upright and flashed another hand signal. This time he took his fingers and pressed them to his lips before splaying them outward. Shin recognized the 'kiss off' signal and nodded. He tapped his helmet and pointed forward. Blaze nodded and slid under the Tiger and popped up on Shin's right.

"See you on the ground Double Echo Two.", called Blaze.

"Same to you Igloo Two, see you on the ground.", returned Shin.

Shin watched as the unusual aircraft accelerated then split-essed and banked to the left. Counting off thirty seconds in his head, Shin banked and followed the X-29 down. He knew that the other pilot was giving him the honor of landing last in recognition of his own skills and appreciated the gesture. Shin would've done the same if their positions and situations had been reversed. Clearing his thoughts Shin Kazama, Zero-Zero Section; Area 88 concentrated on landing his aircraft after this extended flight. He couldn't wait to put his feet back on the ground and rest.

Besides, he had to take a wicked leak.

**1400 Hours. Sand Island Base**

On the ground with his hand shading his eyes, former Osean Federation President Vincent Harling watched as the airplanes he'd been hearing for the past few minutes finally appeared. First to approach the main runway of the deactivated Osean Air Defense Force Base at Sand Island was the Phantom of Colonel Jack 'Heartbreak One' Bartlett.

Harling, or Uncle Vinnie to Bartlett and the members of the Razgriz, was fast approaching fifty-five years old but still maintained the bearing he had demonstrated while appealing to Osean and Yuktobanian troops with Prime Minister Nikanor (Uncle Nicky to Bartlett and the others) by his side to end the war that had engulfed both countries several years back. Watching the Phantom taxi to a spot on the ramp, Harling made his way in Bartlett's direction just as the first of the Royal Asranian Air Force aircraft touched down. Seeing that the pilot of the Phantom had already raised his cockpit canopy, Harling grinned.

Bartlett was tired. He'd been flying for several hours. As had his wingmen and his backseater. Taxiing his aircraft to its old parking spot on the airbase brought back a wave of nostalgia to the old pilot. He'd been flying out of this base when he'd gotten shot down. It was here that he'd first met Edge, Chopper, Archer, and Blaze. Turning in his seat, he watched as Pops climbed down from the back seat and grabbed the chocks that had been left and chocked the nose and main gear of the big tough old aircraft. Hearing the sound of another aircraft engine, Bartlett shut his own engines down after locking his brakes. Taking off his helmet, the old instructor pilot climbed wearily down from his aircraft and waited.

Seeing the slender form of a SEPECAT Jaguar, Bartlet mentally critiqued the aircraft of Double Echo Lead. When the aircraft halted and was chocked in place, the engine wound down and the cockpit canopy rose. Stepping up to the foot of the boarding ladder, Jack Bartlett waited for the other pilot to finish his checks, unstrap, and climb down.

Colonel Saki Vashtarl shifted his attention from inside his cockpit to outside his aircraft when he finished all of his postflight checks. Lifting his head, he looked out and saw two men in flight suits waiting at the foot of the boarding ladder. In the distance, Saki could make out the form of a third man making his way in their direction. Undoing his oxygen mask and slipping his helmet off and placing it on top of his instrument panel, Saki unstrapped himself from his ejection seat and climbed over the cockpit railing. Using his foot to find the ladder, he carefully climbed down from his cockpit to the ground. Turning around to face the men at the foot of the ladder, Saki brought himself to attention and saluted.

"Colonel Saki Vashtarl, Royal Asranian Air Force reporting."

"Colonel Jack Bartlett. Osean Air Defense Force. Welcome to Sand Island Base.", replied Bartlett as he returned the salute and extended his hand.

After shaking Bartlett's hand, Saki turned to the other man at the foot of the ladder.

"Second Lieutenant Peter N. Beagle, Osean Special Forces. Call me Pops.", stated the older man after Saki introduced himself.

Saki lifted an eyebrow. The man, Pops, was much too old to be just a second lieutenant. Something wasn't kosher here. He was about to ask about it when he caught the barely imperceptible shake of Bartlett's head and let it drop. Putting his hands on his hips and shading his sunglasses clad eyes, Vashtarl turned towards the rest of the arriving aircraft. First to land was Eagle of Archer, followed by the Harrier of Kim Aba. After the Harrier came the pair of Tomcats with Mickey's -14A leading the -14D of Swordsman. Once the two 'cat drivers were taxiing to the shelter, the Edge landed her Tigershark next followed by Blaze's X-29. The last aircraft was the F-5E Tiger II of Shin Kazama.

**1500 Hours. Sand Island Base. Old Wardog Squadron Ready Room. **

The room was filled with the low voices of pilots when Saki Vashtarl, Former President Vincent Harling, and Jack Bartlett entered after a short meeting in Colonel Perraults' old office. As the three entered, the room grew quiet. Bartlett looked around and saw that his people and Colonel Vashtarl's people had separated into their own respective groups. Glancing at Pops, who was sitting in a chair in the back of the room, Bartlett saw the shake of his old friend's head as he let the colonel know that neither group of pilots had made an effort to introduce themselves to the other.

_**"Well that's about to change.", **thought Bartlett as he shared a look with Harling and Vashtarl. _

Bartlett walked up to the podium in the front of the room. Looking around the room and clearing his throat the Osean Air Defense Force Colonel ordered the gathered pilots to take their seats. There was a slight rustle as the eight pilots in front of the podium took their seats. Bartlett glanced to his side and saw his highness standing at ease with his hands clasped behind his back. The pale X-shaped scar on Saki's forehead stood out in vast relief to skin burnished tan by the relentless sun and dry air of the desert.

"Alright Wardog, settle down. We've got a lot to cover so shut up and pay attention. For our honorable guests let me introduce myself. My name is Colonel Jack Bartlett of the Osean Federation Air Defense Force, callsign 'Heartbreak One'. Wardog, to my left is His Highness Colonel Saki Vashtarl of the Royal Asranian Air Force. The prince and his best pilots are here to ask us for some covert aerial help. Before I ask his highness to explain why they need help, Wardog why don't you guys stand up and introduce yourselves.", stated Bartlett.

The four members of Wardog looked around at each other for an awkward moment before Blaze stood up and started off the introductions.

"My name is Ian Thomas. My callsign is Blaze. I'm a major in the OADF inactive reserve. It's nice to meet all of you."

Nagase stood up while Blaze returned to his seat.

"I'm Kei Nagase-Thomas. My callsign is Edge. I'm also an OADF inactive reserve major. Blaze is my husband and flight lead."

"I'm Hans 'Archer' Grimm. Like my two friends I'm an OADF inactive reserve major. I recently just graduated from college with a couple of advanced degrees in Aeronautical Engineering. It's a pleasure."

As Archer sat down, Snow rose to his full six foot four inch height and introduced himself.

"I'm Marcus Snow. My callsign is Swordsman. I'm a carrier qualified major and former carrier air group commander in the Osean Naval Air Force. I'm usually assigned aboard the carrier OFS _Kestrel_ but for the time being I'm teaching fledgling aviators in the OADF the art of carrier aviation. It's an honor to meet all of you and welcome you to Sand Island Air Base.", finished Swordsman.

As the four Razgriz members sat down, the pilots from Area 88 looked at each other for a second before Shin Kazama stood up and introduced himself

"Thank you for inviting us here. My name is Shin Kazama. I'm a mercenary pilot in the Asranian Royal Air Force. I'm originally from Japan as is my wife. We both live on base at Area 88.", stated Shin as he sat down and watched as Mickey got up next.

"I'm Mickey Simon. I'm a former member of the Gulf of Tonkin Yacht Club. I'm single and I also fly out of Area 88. I can fly anything I can get my hands on but I prefer to pilot an F-14A first generation Tomcat. Out of the four of us, I'm the only tailhooker in this bunch, although there are other tailhookers based out of Area 88. Thanks for having us."

Mickey sat down and the youngest pilot in the room got up.

"My name is Kim Aba. I'm the youngest pilot on Area 88 and I'm also the only VTOL qualified pilot there. I recently upgraded from a Sea Harrier FRS to an AV-8B Harrier II.", stated Kim before returning to his seat and casting his glance in the direction of the angry woman sitting to his left.

Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was still pissed off. Like the other pilots in the room, she was attired in her dark lavender flightsuit sans g-suit and harness. Kitori didn't want to introduce herself to these strangers. Granted they were good pilots but what did they know about aerial combat. Crossing her arms over her chest, she just shook her head.

"Baroness Palvanoff.", came her cousins' warning tinged voice.

_**"Aww dammit, he's still threatening to ground me. Shit. Well I guess that I better do this.",** fumed the five foot eleven inch woman as she rose from her seat. _

The baroness took a moment to gaze around the room at the others. Her eyes alighted on the other female in attendance and she caught the slight nod of encouragement she gave. Taking a deep breath, (which did wonders for her ample chest as indicated by the sudden attention to that particular area paid by Swordsman and Archer. Blaze started to look but caught a wicked elbow in the side and changed his expression from one of rapt interest to one of studious innocence.), Kitori introduced herself.

"Kitori Palvanoff. As my cousin has previously indicated I am a baroness. I usually fly a Mirage F-1 but I recently had to punch out. When I first arrived at Area 88, I was the first and only female pilot there. Now other females from my country are learning to fly and have joined the Royal Asranian Air Force. In addition to myself there are at least ten of my countrywomen flying out of Area 88 with more joining every week. In addition there are several foreign female pilots based there."

"Where did you learn to fly, baroness?", asked Archer, his voice tinged with a more than professional interest.

Kitori glanced at him before continuing. He looked kind of cute in a boyish way but her heart was still set on marrying the prince.

"I originally learned how to fly back home in my country. I came to the Osean Federation several years ago and learned to fly combat aircraft before returning back home."

Looking back towards the front of the room, Kitori saw the prince subtle nod and returned to her seat. As she sat, she imagined the prince slipping her a wink from behind his dark sunglasses. Embarrassed, Kitori's face turned red and she humbly bent her head down to hide the fact that her cheeks were turning an interesting shade of red.

Once the baroness was finished and had taken her seat, Bartlett glanced around the room and nodded to himself. He was about to dismiss the pilots so they could get some rest when a voice behind them spoke up. Recognizing the voice, Bartlett winced.

"You forgot about introducing me colonel. In addition to that, Pops didn't get to introduce himself.", stated former president Vincent Harling.

"I apologize for my lapse in judgment Mr. President. I was trying to finish up so our guests could grab a bite to eat and get some rest. We have a busy day planned for tomorrow.", replied Bartlett.

"Still Bartlett, I wouldn't want our guests to be curious about myself, besides Uncle Nicky and his aide will be here tomorrow, along with some mutual relatives of ours."

Bartlett heard the rustles from Blaze and the rest of his pilots as they realized who was coming the next day.

_**"Nastasya and Nikanor, here? Oh Shit! This gets better all the friggin time!",** fumed Bartlett as he tuned back in to what the former president was saying. _

Harling turned towards the former members of his Presidential Squadron and mentioned to Blaze and Edge that Uncle Nicky was bringing in a couple of surprises for them. He smiled as he heard Nagase's sudden intake of breath. Harling had gotten off a backchannel message to Nikanor about an idea he had. Nikanor had passed it on to Bartlett's wife. Nastasya had been changing a diaper when the Prime Minister had called but she had agreed to Harling's idea. Knowing what Kei was thinking, Harling shook his head. It wasn't the surprises she was expecting. Returning his attention to their guests, Harling introduced himself.

"My name is Vincent Harling. I'm the former President of the Osean Federation. Prince Saki Vashtarl, Baroness Kitori Palvanoff, on behalf of the Osean Federation I welcome you to Sand Island Airbase. As you can probably tell, Sand Island has been deactivated but for now it will do as a temporary home until you head for Heierlark Base up north."

Saki reverted to his official persona as the youngest prince of the Asranian Royal Family and accepted the former President's kind words with a smile and a word of thanks. As the prince and the president finished their official duties, Pops stood up in the back. Looking at Bartlett, he saw the very subtle nod from his old friend.

In the cockpit of Bartlett's Phantom before they landed, Pops had told his friend that he was going to introduce himself using his real name. Bartlett had denied it but Pops had appealed to the honor in his friend by telling them that if they wanted their guests to trust them, they needed to know who he really was. Now steeling himself for this moment, Pops introduced himself.

"My name as y'all know it now is Second Lieutenant Peter N. Beagle, Osean Special Forces. However, my real name is Huckebein; Former Lieutenant Colonel Huckebein of the Belkan Air Force. I was known as Huckebein the Raven back then. I defected to the Osean Federation years ago and have been here ever since. I'm the mechanic that keeps the airplanes of Wardog Squadron flying. While you're here please call me Pops. Try and forget my real name. It's in my past and that is where I'd prefer to leave it.", said Pops as the gasps he expected from their guests floated throughout the room.

Before anybody could comment on the revelation, Pops walked out of the room and headed for the flightline. In the backseat of Bartlett's Phantom, he'd heard a low rattle as they were on final. Pops wanted to make sure that whatever it was wasn't something serious. He didn't want to postpone the flight back to Heierlark Base, it was too close to storm season and he still had a few fighters to winterize.

Bartlett watched Pops walk out of the room before turning to the eight pilots in front of him.

"Alright you junior birdmen and women, this meeting is over. Go grab some chow at the chow hall or head to over to the quarters to get some sleep. Edge, take the baroness over to the hanger and let her get acquainted with the choices of aircraft we have for her. Oh yeah, Nagase, take Palvanoff over to the equipment shack and talk to Pops, he might be able to find her a new helmet. The one she's got now is too damn big. Grimm, show Colonel Vashtarl and his pilots around the base, so that they can get a feel for it. Edge, once you and Palvanoff are finished join up with Grimm. Blaze, Swordsman I want to see you two yahoos in my office in ten. Got it? Good, everyone you're dismissed."

As the colonel stormed out of the briefing room, Blaze walked over to his wife and wrapped his arms around her waist. Nagase rested her arms on Blaze's shoulders in return.

"Enjoy yourself with the colonel, honey. I don't want you to be too bruised this evening. I have something special planned for you.' said Nagase quietly after kissing him once.

"You know Bartlett as well as I do, love. He's going to rant and rave for all of ten minutes before sitting down and asking me my observations. He's going to do the same with Swordsman. We'll be outta there in a couple of hours. You have fun with the baroness; she seems a bit intense although that may be because she had to ride as supercargo instead of flying her own craft. By the way, which ones are you showing her?', answered Blaze.

'I think that Uncle Vinnie talked them into offering her a Fighting Falcon, a Hornet, a Tigershark, or an Eagle. Personally I hope she picks the Hornet or the Tigershark. I can tell her about the quirks of each aircraft."

"Yeah I know, you can make a Tigershark get up and dance while you can make a Hornet do the shim sham shimmy. Don't you wish you had your Super Hornet here; then you'd really give her a show!"

"True, I could. I love the Rhino. But my all time favorite fighter is the F-5"

Blaze looked confused; his wife loved the F-5E Tiger, why? His eyes must've shown the question he wanted to ask because Edge answered.

"I love the Tiger because it was the fighter I was flying when I met you.", replied Nagase in a voice so quiet it sent tingles throughout Blaze's nervous system.

Last time she'd spoken to him in that tone of voice, the couple had ended up trying to keep from waking Kei's parents up while they were visiting Nagase's hometown with Kita. Their son Allen was born nine months later. Kei saw the look on her husband's face and whispered something in his ear.

"I brought that swimsuit you like."

"You mean the……?"

"Yes, that bikini. Let's go swimming later.", murmured Nagase against Ian's throat.

Too stunned to answer, Blaze just made choking sounds deep in his throat. Releasing his wife after another kiss he didn't remember, the fighter pilot turned to watch as Kei joined the impatient Kitori at the door to the briefing room. With once last wink in his direction, Ian watched as the love of his life and the mother of his children turned her attention to the taller lady and together the pair walked away. Was it his imagination or did Kei put a seductive sway in her hips just to taunt him.

"Yo Blaze. Back to the real world here, we gotta go topside and listen to Bartlett rant and rave. Put your fantasies away for now.", came the deep baritone voice of Marcus Snow.

"Yeah okay Snow. I'm boresighted on reality here. Let's go accept our punishment for our damn fool stunts today. I got it.", growled Blaze in a tone of voice Snow knew quite well.

Looking at his friend and old flight lead, Snow shook his head.

"Blaze ya might want to stop by the nearest latrine to take care of that 'little' problem of yours?"

"Problem? What problem?", asked Blaze as he turned his head in Swordsman's direction.

Swordsman didn't say anything; he just used his eyes to tell his friend to look down before averting his gaze and heading out of the room. Blaze glanced down and realized what Swordsman was talking about. Just below his waist, Blaze saw that his flightsuit stuck out like big top tent. Turning beet red, Blaze cursed to himself and decided to follow Swordsman's suggestion and find the nearest restroom.

As he hurried to the bathroom, Blaze grinned to himself, who could blame him for his reaction. His wife was incredibly hot. In the bikini she'd alluded too, Kei Nagase-Thomas was so hot she caused the water to turn to steam just by being in close proximity to the ocean. Never mind that it turned any man who saw her in that bikini to a quivering mass of jelly. The effects it had on her husband had to be seen to be believed.

_**"Oh yeah, I'm gonna need that swim later today. And tonight, who knows. Maybe she'll put it on again much later.",** thought Blaze as he entered the bathroom and let the door slam shut behind him. _

**1542 Hours. Sand Island Base. Hanger Twelve**

Kei Nagase-Thomas was daydreaming. After showing Kitori where her quarters were so she could stash her gear, the two women had gone over to the chow hall to grab a quick bite to eat. Since Sand Island was deactivated, there was only a company of soldiers here to serve the food, pull security duty, and get the planes fueled and repaired. Several of the other soldiers scattered around were Special Forces along with a few pilots. Edge mentally thanked them for doing their best to get this base active in the short time they had and still keep from being found out.

Returning her attention to the taller woman as they entered the hanger, Kei saw that Kitori was relaxing bit by bit. Over their meal, the two women had gotten somewhat acquainted and Kei found herself wanting to become a close friend to this woman. Putting the thoughts of what she had planned for her husband later in the back of her mind; Nagase began explaining about the four fighters arranged in front of her and the baroness.

"According to your file and what you told us in the briefing room earlier you prefer to fly a single-engined maneuverable supersonic capable aircraft.", Edge said in a businesslike manner.

"Yes. I prefer single-engined aircraft because that's what I've always flown. I like maneuverability because that's the way I fly. I can handle a twin-engined fighter like Mickey's Tomcat but it isn't as maneuverable as I want.", stated Kitori as she placed her hands on her hips and looked at the shorter woman.

Nagase went over the list of aircraft Pops had given her just before he walked into Bartlett's office where the colonel was reading her husband and Snow the riot act ten ways from Friday.

"Okay, Baroness Palvanoff.", Kei started but was cut off.

"Kitori."

"Hmm?"

"Call me Kitori. We're not in a formal setting and I'm wearing a flightsuit. Call me Kitori.", asked the baroness.

"Okay… Kitori is it? Back to the subject at hand, we have four aircraft that would suit your requests. Two of them are single-engined like you prefer but two of them are twin-engined. The only Dassault's we have are the Mirage 2000's and at the moment none of them are available. What we do have are an F-16C Fighting Falcon, an F-20A Tigershark like my own, an F/A-18C Hornet, and an F-15C Eagle like Archer flies. We also have another F-5E Tiger II if you're interested. Here are the specifications on each, read them and tell me which one you'll want to fly first tomorrow.", Kei said as she handed the other woman a medium-sized stack of notebooks.

Kitori accepted the pile of books that were dropped in her hands with a grunt. The narrow thickness of the books belied their actual weight, they were quite heavy. Lifting an eyebrow in Nagase's direction, Kitori asked her why the need for the manuals.

"Because these aircraft aren't the kind you can just 'kick the tires and light the fires' when you first start flying them. You have to learn about the aircraft and the systems. These fighters are a bit more advanced than the Dassault Mirage F-1 which in my opinion was a pitiful, underpowered, semi-maneuverable target. I've shot down several of the more advanced and maneuverable Mirage 2000 flown by some pretty darn good pilots. Those that we've captured said the same thing; the F-1 wasn't the best of the Mirage fleet. Granted, there are some pilots who can make a Mirage F-1 sit up and beg biscuits off a table but the majority smartly upgraded to a 2000.", replied Nagase in her trademark soft voice.

Kitori got pissed. She loved the Mirage F-1 and considered it superior to many of its' peers. To hear that the F-1 wasn't all that great by some woman who'd never flown one was tantamount to challenging Kitori's aerial prowess with her beloved and much lamented fighter. The books that had just been dropped in her hands found themselves in midair for the second time in less than five minutes as Kitori threw them on the ground in anger. Placing her hands on her hips and glaring at the shorter woman, Kitori prepared herself for a verbal battle.

"Why you… who do you think you are denigrating the Mirage F-1? You've never piloted one and you're getting all supercilious? What makes you say that? I bet those so-called 'damn good' pilots you've shot down in the Mirage 2000 who transitioned from the F-1 weren't as good as you've made them out to be. Do you have proof that what they told your interrogators is really the truth? How many enemy kills do you actually have?', snarled Kitori.

Nagase arched an eyebrow in consternation. This woman had the gall to actually call Kei's piloting skills less than her own. Kei had over 200 air to air victories in six months of down and dirty dogfighting against pilots more skilled than the baroness. This conversation promised to get dirty and if the baroness didn't take back her words, Kei was going to shove them right down her five foot eleven throat.

"For your information, baroness; I have over two hundred aerial victories. Several of which were against pilots more skilled than Mr. Kazama and aircraft more advanced than my top of the line brand new straight from the factory F/A-22 Raptor which, at this very moment, is back at Heierlark Base. If you actually pass the flying tests over the next few days, you'll actually get the honor of accompanying us to when we leave here. I've even shot down a few stealth fighters. How many dogfighting kills do you actually have, Baroness Palvanoff? And I don't mean kills where you pop off a heatseeking missile; I mean dogfights where you've actually had to go to guns with a bandit who was actively trying to kill you with his own cannon? Blaze, our best pilot, has over five hundred aerial victories. His kills are split evenly between gun kills and missile kills. Blaze even shot down several enemies the day he, Archer, and another pilot had to escort a CSAR helicopter in to rescue me after I got shot down in a snowstorm after being hit by a SAM. Do not debate aerial kills with me. You'll lose every time", Nagase stated coldly.

Kitori was stunned. This woman who was no taller than maybe five foot five, five foot six had over two hundred kills, amazing. Taking this new fact into account, Kitori looked at Kei with a new found respect but still wasn't going to back down from defending her choice of aircraft. Steeling herself for the discussion ahead, Kitori forged ahead.

"No matter what you say, that still doesn't take into account the fact that you've never flown the Mirage F-1. I may not have as many kills as you do but out of the two of us, I've actually had F-1 combat experience. Just because I flew here in the backseat of a dammed Tomcat, doesn't mean I'm not an accomplished fighter pilot myself. Besides how long did it actually take you to acquire those kills, several years?", retorted Kitori.

Kei snapped. Turning away from the taller woman, she stormed over to the phone handset hanging from the wall. Snatching it off its holder, Kei let it ring a few times and barked into it when somebody answered.

"Pops, do we have two of those trainer aircraft you like? We do? Good, have somebody prep two of them for an immediate flight. Myself and the baroness, oh yeah, have a…helmet in Palvanoff's size sitting in one of them. I have to see how good this woman actually is. Thanks. Talk to you later."

Slamming the handset down, Edge stormed back over to the other woman.

"Pick up those books and carry them to your quarters. Then get your flight gear and meet me out on the flightline. We'll see who's the better pilot.", Edge retorted icily before turning on her heel and storming out of the hanger.

Kitori watched the retreating figure and licked her lips in anticipation. She was ready to humiliate this person who deigned to impugn the reputation of the Dassault Mirage F-1 and insulted Kitori's personal reputation.

"Oh, this is going to be interesting.", murmured Kitori slyly.

Kitori picked up the manuals she'd thrown on the ground and headed for her assigned room in the barracks assigned to the Area 88 group.

Sitting on the wing of his Eagle and enjoying the breeze coming off the ocean, Hans Grimm watched as Edge stomped into the hanger and yanked open the locker containing her flight gear. Having seen the woman irritated before and not liking it, Archer knew that an angry Edge was like playing with a ticking time bomb. Archer also knew that an angry pilot tended to make mistakes that could get him or herself killed.

Grimm was supposed to be helping Pops do some routine maintenance on his -15. The open panels along the spine of his fighter visually explained that the work was in progress. Grimm and Pops had been working pretty quickly before the mechanical wizard had gotten a call from one of the other hangers and rushed off to prep two of the Hawk training aircraft for some sort of mission and leaving Grimm with a spanner wrench in one hand and a tech manual in the other to figure out something or another.

Carefully placing the wrench down on the rubber matting positioned by the open panel for that very purpose, Grimm moved over to the wing's railing edge and dropped to the ground. Landing in a crouch to keep his knees from being jarred too badly, the young aerial assassin straightened up and headed towards the lockers where Edge was adjusting the straps on her G-suit, a chaps-like garment worn on a pilots' lower body and designed to inflate and keep the pilots' blood flowing from the heart to the brain so he or she didn't black out in cases of extreme g maneuvering.

Raising his hand in greeting, Hans called out to one of his aerial idols. When Edge turned to face him Grimm's words died in his throat. He'd known Nagase was angry because of the way she walked; unfortunately he didn't know how angry she was. The look in her eyes told him exactly how pissed off Edge was. Her dark eyes were flashing warning signs that could be seen miles away. At that moment, Archer wondered if his other idol knew exactly what kind of firecracker he'd married.

_**"Blaze whatever you do, I hope you never piss Edge off to this extent. Hell, her eyes are blazing with an intense fire I've never seen before. Last time she was even close to this level of anger was on that mission where those Yuke commandoes gassed November City. Good lord, I hope I'm never on the receiving end of that look.",** thought Archer as he stopped where he was and stepped back. _

Hearing footsteps entering the hanger, Archer watched as Nagase's laser-like gaze shot towards the person entering the hanger. He was wondering who it was when the very recognizable figure of Kitori Palvanoff stepped around the end of a Phantom that was undergoing some routine maintenance and being worked on by its pilot and his RIO.

_**"Oh hell, I hope that Palvanoff didn't make a pass at Blaze. That would be one thing that would get Nagase that riled up. Waitaminute ain't Blaze and Swordsman still getting chewed out by Bartlett? After I showed Mickey, Shin, Kim, and Colonel Vashtarl around the base, those two were still in conference with the colonel. As I remember, Kitori and Kei were heading over to Hanger 12 to check out some aircraft. Did Kitori….? No, oh no she didn't! Don't tell me that Kitori insulted Kei's flying skills. Oh shit this ain't good. I gotta call Blaze.", **thought Hans as he turned away from the tableau to find a phone. _

At Archer's called greeting, Nagase had turned to respond when she'd caught a glimpse of the other woman just entering the building. Glaring even harder than she had been when she'd first entered the hanger, Edge mentally told herself to apologize to Grimm for her reaction when she got the chance. Casting one last glower at Palvanoff as she made her way towards the equipment desk, Edge flounced out of the area and headed for the flightline.

At the same time his wife was storming out of the hanger where Archer had been working on his fighter, Blaze was stretched out on the lone couch in the old Wardog pilots lounge. With his arms behind his head, Ian was contemplating the oil painting copy on the wall above him. The painting was of one of the black-painted Razgriz Tigersharks flying serenely through a grey sky. He knew that the painting was a copy because the original hung over the queen-sized bed in the master bedroom of the little house he shared with his family. Turning his head slightly to the right, Blaze could see Swordsman slouching down in another chair with his boots propped up on the old grey desk at the front of the room. Snow was flipping though a dog-eared copy of a magazine dedicated to naval aviation.

The two pilots had survived their chewing out by Bartlett with just a case of bruised egos and slightly ruffled feathers. Blaze was used to the colonel's rampages so it didn't faze him much. Swordsman, not used to being chewed out like that but with the thick skin inherent to all naval aviators, mentioned that he wasn't at all bothered by the verbal barrage the colonel had leveled their way. After grabbing a bite to eat, the two had decided to hang out in the lounge for a bit before returning to their respective quarters. Both Marcus and Ian were also hoping that they'd run into one of the Asranian pilots. Marcus sighed and closed the magazine before dropping his size fifteen feet to the floor.

"Blaze, did you see the pilot of that Harrier? He didn't look a day over sixteen and he's already an ace? Damn, fighter jocks are getting younger and younger all the time. They're making me feel like an old man and I'm only thirty-five. Hell Blaze, you and Edge are only in your late twenties/early thirties while young Grimm is just now entering his mid-twenties. If Chopper were here he'd be only a few years behind me.", grunted Snow as he leaned forward.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. To top it all off that kid, Aba I think his name is, was fourteen or so when he first started flying the Sea Harrier. As if a regular fighter wasn't complicated enough, fourteen years old and mastering a VTOL aircraft like that? I wonder if he's figured out how to viff yet?", mused Blaze.

"Viff, what's viff?", asked the black aviator of his friend.

Blaze sighed and sat up. Turning to the Eternal Swordsman, Blaze took on the tone of voice he used when he was instructing a fledgling aviator at Heierlark.

"Okay, pay attention. Viff is a term to describe an aerial move that only a VTOL aircraft like a Harrier can do. Say you're a Harrier pilot and you're in a swirling furball with a no-shit sierra hotel pilot flying a traditional fighter a thousand yards off your six. He's faster and in some cases, the bastard can outturn you. Whatcha gonna do? If you look in a Harrier's cockpit you'll see a lever beside the throttle. That lever controls the exhaust nozzles of your aircraft. Those nozzles can be moved from full aft position where they act like your jet exhaust and thrust the Harrier forward to a position where they are pointing ninety degrees straight down, thus allowing the Harrier to hover. That control can also rotate the nozzles so that their facing a few degrees forward. It's called vectoring your thrust. ", started Blaze as he watched Swordsman intently to see if he understood the explanation thus far.

Receiving a nod at his lifted eyebrow, Blaze continued with his explanation.

"Back to the furball, you're in a Harrier that's about to get morted and can't shake the lucky bastard behind you. What you do is take a hold of your nozzle control lever and push it to the position where the nozzles are pointed straight down. What that does is shift the Harrier from level flight to vertical flight. To your opponent, it'll look as if you just jammed on the brakes and caught the express elevator going up. Before he realizes it, you've done screwed up his solution and now you have an easy shot at his tail. Viff stands for 'Vectoring In Forward Flight' and the maneuver is called viffing. The day when the _Buzzard_ and the _Vulture _were sunk, we tangled with some Yuke Harriers and the little bastards pulled that maneuver just about every single time I could get a reasonable lock. We all were surprised and Chopper got to cussin over the radio about it, remember?"

It took a moment for Marcus to remember but he did. He'd wondered why Davenport had been cursing over the air and thus infuriating every shipboard tactical air controller in the area. Nodding as he remembered, he started to lean back only to jerk forward again when the phone on the wall rang.

"Geez, what is it now.", grumbled Swordsman as he picked up the phone since he was closest.

Putting the handset to his ear, Snow grunted out a greeting to the person on the other end of the line. Answering yes to a question, Marcus held the handset out for Blaze.

"It's Archer, he wants to talk to you about something.", said the Super Tomcat driver.

Blaze nodded his thanks as he came over and accepted the handset from his friend. Putting it to his ear he greeted the Eagle pilot.

"Hello, yeah Grimm it's me, what's up?"

Ian listened to the former youthful aerial assassin. Snow watched with interest as Blaze's eyes grew wide before narrowing into near slits; cocking his head in Blaze's direction unobtrusively to listen to his side of the conversation, Snow as a bit surprised when Blaze yelled into the mouthpiece.

"She asked Pops what? She did what? Dammit, how could she be so damn sensitive? She knows better than to let somebody goad her into something like this. Yeah, I understand Archer, thanks. At least she's doing that first. The aftermath will be interesting. Yeah, run over to the radio shack and have those radio pukes rustle up a Texaco to meet them after the island run. They'll need the gas. I hope Palvanoff knows how to do a midair refueling.", Blaze said before hanging up the phone.

Looking off into the distance, Blaze let his mind carry him back to the war and when he and his two wingmen went into a forced exile just ahead of a court martial. So lost in thought, it took him a few moments to catch on to what Snow was saying.

"Hmm, oh sorry Swordsman, I was lost in thought for a moment."

"Remembering something?"

"Yeah, remembering when Edge, Archer, Pops, and I had to leave this base. We grabbed four of Pops' trainers and amscraed but those 8492nd assholes bounced us as we were approaching a volcanic island. That shit for brains traitor Hamilton sicced them on us with orders to shoot us down. Pops took the lead and we followed him when the 8492 guys' squadron's radars got screwed up by the volcanic rock the island was made out of. We followed Pops' bird so low that we were brushing the mountain tops. Pops led us through a small cave and out the other side as if it was nothing. Archer, Edge, and I were flying single while Pops had Genette and his dog in the cockpit with him. We were frazzled but Pops was cool as a jewel. If we were surprised at flying through the cave, that was nothing compared to what we flew through a few minutes later."

"Oh yeah, what was that?", asked Snow.

Blaze looked at his friend before continuing.

"There's an abandoned base on the island that was built deep into the volcanic rock. We entered the base through a pier where the base's former occupants docked a few patrol boats or cargo ships and flew through the interior of the base under the mountain for a good while before popping out the other side. I think you remember what happened shortly after we exited the base?"

Swordsman did remember, he had blown through the formation of Hawk trainer aircraft with his -14D and got into a clarification argument with Thunderhead before using a signaling light to pass on Captain Andresson's message to Pops. He waited for Pops and the rest to punchout before shooting a Sidewinder missile into each jet. He received credit for downing the four so-called Wardog 'traitors' and was awarded the medal he'd demanded from Hamilton through Thunderhead. Happily that medal went down with the _Kestrel _unworn.

"Yeah, I thought so. If it weren't for those Sea Goblin rotorheads lying to Thunderhead and Hamilton before scooping us outta the drink we would've drowned."

Snow watched Blaze as he walked over to the window with his hands behind his back and gazed towards the ocean. Waiting a moment before asking the question he'd wanted to ask since the conversation with Grimm, Snow stood up and stretched. Before he could ask, Blaze beat him to the draw.

"The baroness pissed Edge off and she challenged her to a mock dogfight in a couple of the trainer aircraft that are here. Grimm told me that Edge stormed into the hanger with a look of pure fury on her face and grabbed her flight gear before storming out as Palvanoff was coming in. He dropped the tools he was using to work on his Eagle and rushed out to call me. On his way to a phone, he ran into a ground crewman who'd overheard Nagase asking Pops the coordinates of the island. I believe that my lovely wife, an ace many times over in her own right, is going to get the baroness to play 'Follow the Leader' and is going to take her over to the island and show the baroness the error of her ways. And this is before they get to the actual one v one where Edge is going to have the significant advantage even though she hasn't flown over that particular island since that fateful day."

The two pilots were silent as they thought about the possible consequences of Nagase's actions. Blaze sat down again and sighed.

"Ya know Snow, the flying I did over that island and through the cave and the old base helped me prepare for the flying we did in the ravine with Ofnir all around us and through the tunnel at Sudentor with Hamilton's MiG 1.44 on our ass. Archer was scared all three times but he remained cool."

"Yeah, those two missions were tough but we persevered. You know what I remember most about that ravine mission, Blaze? I remember being scared but when Ofnir bounced us and started with their proselytizing and I answered what I did, it was like the fear just disappeared and I was able to enjoy flying in that ravine. One of these days we'll have to sneak in and do it again. Maybe we can talk those Zenit and Varyag pilots to join us."

Blaze looked at Snow incredulously before breaking out into a much needed bout of laughter. When Blaze finished laughing, he told Swordsman he'd see him later and headed out of the lounge. Heading for his quarters, Blaze decided to get the nap he had been trying to grab in the lounge in before returning to the flightline and to be there when Edge landed. Since they'd been married, each time one went flying by themselves, the others was always there waiting when they returned. Edge would be touched when she saw him standing by the parking spot. Of course he had an ulterior motive for it this time.

Blaze wanted to see Edge in her (and his) favorite bikini.

**1621 Hours. Sand Island Air Force Base. Base Commander's Office. **

In Colonel Perraults' old office, Bartlett and Pops were talking. They had a feeling that Blaze and the rest were going to help out Colonel Vashtarl and his people at Area 88. The two old friends were discussing the aircraft that they figured Blaze, Edge, Archer, and Swordsman were going to take. Bartlett had talked Vashtarl into allowing the four to bring their own aircraft and their Razgriz aircraft (although the prince still was under the belief that the Razgriz pilots were at their secret lair). The dilemma was with which aircraft in the Razgriz Hanger at Heierlark they were going to take.

"We know that Blaze is taking his Tigershark, Edge is taking her Rhino, and Archer is taking his Eagle, while Swordsman is taking his Super Tomcat. However, which Razgriz aircraft are they going to take? Archer and Swordsman are going to want the Razgriz Eagles and Tomcats respectively. Edge is going to say anything but she's going to want to use the Razgriz Super Hornets. Blaze already turned down taking the X-29's but I think he's going to be undecided about which aircraft to take. We do know that Blaze prefers a twin-engined aircraft for situations they'll be flying into in Asran. That scratches the T-Sharks, the Falcons, the Lightning II's, and a few others. We want to try and avoid the MiG's and Sukhoi's since those aircraft are what their opponents prefer except in cases like that F-15D variation that had the canards. Those gave our friends too much problems, like the Berkut's and the 1.44's.", muttered Bartlett as he leaned back in the chair.

"Yeah, according to Blaze, those were some mean bastards to fight. Personally, I'd recommend the Super Hornet's but if they have Foxhounds and Foxbats (MiG-31 and MiG-25 aircraft) the Rhinos' will be underdogs in the power department. The only aircraft that we have that are even somewhere close to the Mach 3 speeds that those airplanes have are the -14D's, the -15E's, our own -31's and -25's, and possibly the F/A-22's with their supercruise abilities. Unfortunately, the Raptors we have are undergoing maintenance and upgrades and won't be ready in time. Plus since we're doing this under the table the defense department ain't gonna take too kindly to us misplacing four very expensive next generation aircraft.", returned Pops with a sigh.

The two men were quiet for a bit before Pops got up and stretched.

"I guess we'll have to see what Blaze says when he sees the Intel the Prince and his people brought. He'll make the decision on which aircraft to bring and most of the time the others will go along with it because he's right most of the time. Now if you'll excuse me colonel, I gotta get down to the flightline and wait for the ice princess to make it back."

Bartlett lifted an eyebrow.

"Ice Princess? That's a new way to refer to Nagase."

"Yeah I know. It seems that Baroness Palvanoff pissed her off and she challenged her to a mock 1 v 1. However, Edge also asked me for the coordinates of an island I'm familiar with that's nearby. I showed it to her, Blaze, and Archer years ago when we had to escape from here after Hamilton's betrayal. Maybe one of these days I'll show it to ya.'

Bartlett nodded and waved as his old friend walked out of the office. The colonel stretched his own self out before rising and walking to the window. His wife and daughter were arriving tomorrow along with Prime Minister Nikanor if he understood Harling correctly and Bartlett wanted to be well rested so he could play with his very active two year old daughter Anastasia. Smiling at his reflection in the window, Bartlett decided to crash for awhile in his quarters. Colonel Vashtarl was giving a briefing about his countries' situation tonight and he wanted to be alert.

**1625 Hours. Sand Island Base. Visiting Officer's Quarters.**

In the quarters set aside for him and his people, Saki was talking to three of his pilots. Gathered around the gunmetal grey desk sat Shin Kazama, Mickey Simon, and Kim Aba. The three had been telling him what they'd learned about the base from their guide Major Grimm. They'd been impressed with the professionalism and courtesy they'd been shown. Saki had even been allowed to communicate with Area 88 for a long time. His aides had brought him up to speed on what had been going on since his departure. Greg had been shot down (again) and had lived through it (again). One of the rebels new mysterious enemy aircraft had surprised him with what he thought was an impossible maneuver. Greg had been so scared that McCoy had had to cut him a break on his booze prices when the big pilot with the bushy beard (it was so bushy that Saki wondered how Greg was even able to wear his oxygen mask) had gone through half of McCoy's stash in one sitting. Saki's aide had grounded Greg until Saki returned. Saki had vetoed it and told his aide to ground Greg for a week to get him sobered up.

The other thing that Saki's new aide had told him was the depressing news that several of his oldest and best mercenary pilots had been killed by suddenly expert pilots in the new rebel squadrons. Even some of their older more experienced rebel pilots were getting kills that they would never have gotten before. This worried the prince and he'd mulled it over in the privacy of his own room while Kazama was talking with his wife Ryouko.

Right now, Saki was listening as Mickey was offering his observations about these pilots.

"Colonel, I know that we need all the help we can get and I was -and still am- supportive of this idea, I don't understand why we even need the help of these four pilots that their Colonel Bartlett is so hot about. Give us some time and we can beat these new rebel aircraft and instructors back.", commented Mickey with his arms crossed and a scowl on his face.

Kim nodded in agreement as he wrapped his arms behind his neck. At seventeen years of age, Kim Aba hadn't lost the youthful looks he had when he first came to Area 88 when he was fourteen years old. Slightly taller than he was back then, Aba recently found himself the object of interest (and in some cases passion) from some of the new female pilots that were arriving at Area 88. Several of the young women had tried to seduce him after they've returned from missions when their emotions and adrenalin were ramped waay up on the scale. A couple of the more adventurous had tried to sneak into his quarters while he was asleep. It had gotten so bad that there were times when Kim had to hide out at Shin and Ryouko's small quarters in Shin's old barracks building.

"Mickey, I understand what you're saying but the pilots were looking for have faced these enemies before and prevailed. These Demons of Razgriz as they're called are superior pilots. No one knows who they were but according to our research, they were originally part of the 108th Fighter OADF Squadron and based out of an island base, this base to be exact. I've tried to get this Colonel Bartlett to identify the pilots but he's demurred; only admitting that he knew them and trained most of them. We need the Razgriz to help train us and to fight with us to defeat this rebel menace once and for all."

Kim frowned while Mickey gritted his teeth in frustration. They knew that over the next few days, Zero-Zero section was supposed to participate in a series of mock dogfights. There was a two part reason for this. The first reason was to get Kitori proficient enough in her new aircraft. The second reason was to introduce them to the tactics that the new enemies might use. Once they thought they were ready, Saki and Zero-Zero Section were going to follow their hosts to their home base up in North Osea.

Shin Kazama was listening with half-lidded eyes. In some respects he felt the same way as Mickey and Kim but Kazama was a practical man. After getting bounced by the enemy and incurring very minor damage to his Tiger, Shin was open to getting help from the outside. The mercenary pilots at Area 88 were the best of the best. They had to be to make it in a mercenary air force but these new fighters coupled with the new flight instruction that the rebel pilots were getting as well as the possibility that the instructors were doing more than just 'instructing' could very well mean the end of Area 88 and Saki's faction in the government.

"Shin what do you think?", asked Mickey.

"Mickey, I think that we need all the help we can get. You've seen how proficient the rebel pilots are getting and the equipment they are receiving. Still, although our pilots at Area 88 are the best, if the rebel instructor pilots decide to start flying missions in support, things could get worse.", answered Shin.

"They already have. Greg was shot down today.", commented Saki.

Mickey guffawed, he knew that once he returned to base, Greg just got a new fighter and got back in the sky. He said as much to the colonel.

"Usually, Simon, I would agree with you. This time we believe that Greg was shot down by one of these instructor pilots. Greg was rescued by our rescue people but he was so scared that McCoy had to part with half of his alcohol stock. Leo had to ground Greg for a week so he can sober up. Leo told me that Greg's nerves were so shot, he could barely hold on to his glass as he debriefed. In the debrief, Greg said that the guy who shot him down countered every defensive move Greg made and when Greg got a shot, the enemy pulled a maneuver Greg says is impossible.", Saki continued.

The room was silent as his three guests thought about the ramifications of what Saki was telling them. If Greg, one of the top five pilots at Area 88 (if they discounted Shin, Mickey, Kitori, and Kim; Greg was the number one pilot at the airbase) had his nerves shot so bad he couldn't hold his glass of single malt scotch, then Greg had been really scared.

"I've had Leo send out a team of soldiers to the site of the aircraft wreckage to see if what Greg said about having his gun camera running when the enemy pilot pulled the maneuver. If the film isn't too damaged, I'll have it sent here so I can show it to our hosts and see if they know anything about the maneuver. However, I'm not keeping my hopes up."

Shin leaned forward and asked a question.

"Did Greg describe the move to Leo? If he did, did Leo pass it on to you? If so, you can tell us and we can ask our hosts about it."

Saki nodded at Kazama's suggestion and told them what Greg had told Leo and Leo had passed on to him. When he was finished, even the usually loud American was in awe. He just muttered to himself that he needed to see it to believe it. When he was finished, Saki gazed at his pilots with the pride inherent of commanding officers everywhere.

"Has anyone seen Kitori?", asked Saki suddenly as he realized that the baroness was missing.

His three pilots glanced at each other in confusion before shaking their head in negation. Saki scowled, he was about to suggest that his pilots talk to their counterparts and learn more about them. Every chance they got they were to ask about his mystery squadron known as Razgriz. Saki figured that it would be best if each pilot talked to the person they felt a kinship with. Saki was going to speak with Colonel Bartlett some more and see if he'd inadvertently let some more bits and pieces of information slip out. Saki was positive that Bartlett knew more than he was letting on.

"Mickey, talk to their Tomcat pilot. You both are naval aviators and you both fly Tomcats maybe he'll tell you more because the two of you have shared the experience of landing on an aircraft carrier at night in bad weather. Kim, you talk that young pilot Archer. He seems fairly close to your age. Or at least your generation, maybe he'll be more inclined to share with somebody close to his own age bracket. I wanted Kitori to speak with their female pilot but I get the feeling that Major Nagase-Thomas won't divulge anything. That leaves you Shin. I take it that you had already figured out that I want you to talk to the one they call Blaze. You two seem a lot alike. Maybe you can get him to show you that aircraft he was flying so we can learn about its advantages and disadvantages. Both you and Mickey say you saw a similar aircraft design the day your Tiger was damaged.", mentioned Saki.

All three pilots answered and Saki let them go. He wanted to get some sleep. The flight here had taken a lot out of him and he preferred to be refreshed and alert when he got to fly the next morning. As he sat in the chair and studied his small suite of rooms (he guessed that the quarters he was installed in were originally for visiting VIP's), Saki felt a twinge of homesickness tinged with excitement.

At the same time her cousin was contemplating the next day's events, Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was rethinking her knee-jerk reaction to the flying skills of the woman in the training aircraft ahead of her own. From the beginning, Kitori had been belittling Kei's skills. After take-off, Edge had given her several minutes to get used to the handling of the nimble little aircraft. It hadn't taken long for Kitori to get the hang of the Hawk and shortly after that she fell in love with the small airplane and wanted one of her own. She had been a little bit astonished when Edge had kindly informed her that the trainer could be armed with air-to-air missiles, bombs, and a 20 mm cannon in the nose.

"My husband shot down an enemy fighter with a Hawk during the war a few years back.", Nagase had told her about forty-five minutes into their flight.

Shortly after that, Kitori's boredom grew when the other woman told her that they were going to play follow the leader. Kitori had actually laughed over the radio and asked Edge how she was going to prove to Kitori that she was a good pilot. Nagase hadn't answered, she just told Kitori to try and keep up, which she did for the first twenty minutes of the flight.

It was when Kitori noticed that her radar wasn't functioning that she started to get concerned. She had mentioned it to the other pilot who just replied that she guessed Kitori would have to do without and still try and keep up. The tone of Nagase's voice-a coy yet smug tone thought Kitori-sent small ripples of fear down the baroness' spine. When it became apparent that Nagase wasn't going to say anymore, Kitori steeled herself for what she thought was going to be a routine flight.

It was at that moment that her flight lead flipped her aircraft over onto its back and dove for an island that was below them. Having no choice but to follow, Kitori did the same and followed the other aircraft down. As the ground got closer, Kitori got worried; she didn't particularly like to fly low level except when the situation required it. A quick glance at her altimeter and her heart nearly stopped. Kei Thomas was flying less than a hundred feet above the ground.

Kitori tried to contact Nagase over the radio but the other woman wouldn't answer. Cursing to herself, Kitori continued to follow the other aircraft at the same altitude. A little while into the low level flight, the baroness felt herself relaxing and even managed a taunt or two over the radio. Then she saw the cave. Figuring that Nagase was going to give the cave a wide berth, Kitori relaxed only to stiffen in fright when she saw the other jet fly into the cave!

With her heart in her stomach, Kitori made it through the cave and exulted over the radio to the other woman. Her happiness was derailed when Nagase returned her taunting radio call with one of her own.

"I do hope that you didn't think that was the only surprise I'm going to spring on you. If it was, then you have no right to meet and learn from the Razgriz. Those pilots could've gone through that cave with their eyes covered and at supersonic speeds. One piece of advice: start getting used to your rudder pedals; you'll need them sooner than you think."

Kitori snarled something impolite over the radio. Nagase just chuckled and pushed her throttles further forward. Deciding to ignore the other woman's soft voice, Palvanoff concentrated on her flying. A little bit scared but still up for a challenge, Kitori increased her own speed in order to keep up with the major.

In the leading Hawk, Edge was keeping a careful eye on the baroness by using the three rearview mirrors mounted on the canopy bow. Edge was impressed at the skill the other woman was showing so far. Palvanoff had been surprised when she followed Kei through the cave but she got over it sense the cave was fairly short. The next challenge was going to require all of Palvanoff's skill, even skills she didn't know she had.

Kei was retracing the route Pops had followed when he led them away from Sand Island when they had been denounced as traitors to Osea. Like Palvanoff, Nagase had been scared (especially when they flew through the old base) but unlike the baroness, Nagase had been flying in high stress and high pressure situations for so long by that time that being extra alert had become second nature to the exiled Wardogs. Nagase had learned that even when she was so exhausted she was nearly falling asleep in the cockpit, she'd still be alert enough to acquire enemy fighters (either by radar or by the naked eye) at incredible distances and usually before the enemy even knew her or any of the Wardogs-and later the Razgriz-were there. As good as she was at being extra alert, Kei still considered her husband Ian 'Blaze' Thomas to be the king of being extra alert. Blaze could be half asleep in his cockpit (and in one memorable case, Blaze had been so tired that near the end of the furball, he'd fallen asleep while in the process of popping off a radar-guided missile at a madly maneuvering enemy) and he could still spot a bogey, identify it as either a bandit or as a friendly, maneuver for the most favorable position, and start tracking the target in preparation for missile launch.

Noticing that the terrain was changing, signifying how close they were to the base entrance, Nagase popped her speed brakes out and pulled back on the throttle to set the most economical speed for her pass through the interior of the mountain. Glancing over her shoulder for a second, Nagase saw that the baroness was rapidly overtaking her. Just as she was about to call out over the radio for the baroness to slow down, Kei saw Kitori pop her own speed brakes out and drop her flaps to match speeds with Nagase. Edge gave her a little bit of credit, it was nice airmanship.

"That was good. Now we'll see how good you really are.", stated Kei before concentrating all of her attention to her front.

The entrance to the base was less than a mile away and looming forebodingly in front of her aircraft.

Kitori finally realized what Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas meant when she said that she wanted to see how good she really was. Nagase wanted to see how well Palvanoff could manage this new wrinkle.

_**"I can manage this as well as or even better than Ms. High and Mighty. This tunnel is well lit and shouldn't go for very long. At least its not too dark.",** thought Kitori. _

At that moment, the aircraft in front of her disappeared from Palvanoff's view and Kitori's heart froze.

_"Oh Shit!!!!!", _shouted Kitori in fright.

Yanking her throttles back and preparing to pull back on the stick to send her aircraft into a ballistic climb, Kitori saw that she had just entered the tunnel and any climb she might execute was going to end in a fiery way. Over the radio came a calm voice.

"Increase your speed slightly to keep from stalling. Do not, I repeat, DO NOT send your aircraft into a climb. Reduce your altitude. Use your rudder to change directions, not the stick. You use the stick and you'll roll right into these walls. Above all relax and whatever you do, DO NOT PANIC."

The soothing voice had a slight calming effect on Kitori Palvanoff but the baroness was more scared than she had ever been in her life. Even in the middle of combat with several enemy fighters trying their damnedest to bring her down in flames, Kitori never felt scared. This was different, vastly different. One small move, one wrongly-timed twitch of her wrist and Kitori would never see her future husband again.

Ahead of the scared stiff baroness, Nagase gritted her teeth in frustration. Kei was having some misgivings about her actions. From the movements of the aircraft behind her, Nagase could see that the baroness had clamped down on her control stick with a grip that couldn't be removed. That was a mistake; Palvanoff needed to loosen her grip otherwise every small move she'll need to make would be exacerbated and that wouldn't be a good thing. Taking a deep relaxing breath to calm her own nerves (Nagase was even more nervous than the baroness. She'd flown through the base before and knew exactly what was ahead of them), Nagase started to talk the baroness through the abandoned underground base.

"Kitori, I can tell that you are severely frightened and scared isn't the way to fly through this base. In fact flying through here scared is a good way to buy the farm. I'm going to talk you through this, however when I tell you to do something drastic I need you to do it right when I tell you. Otherwise you will not survive. Click your mic twice if you understand?". Nagase said calmly while giving her aircraft a little bit of left rudder to make the turn into the main tunnel.

Two clicks came over the radio and Nagase smiled. Baroness Palvanoff called back a moment later and in a very small voice told Nagase that she was so scared she didn't think she was going to make it. Kei growled over the radio and told the baroness to stop her sniveling. It wasn't going to do her any good. In the silence that followed, Kei could just about hear the indignation emanating from the baroness. Waiting a moment for Kitori to regain her senses, Kei told her to increase her speed to 350 knots. Kitori asked why and Nagase smothered a sigh.

"Three hundred and fifty knots is the best speed for traversing this base. We still have a long way to go and that speed will give you enough energy to maneuver. We also have a little bit of ground effect but that is going to lessen the further we get under the mountain. Remember we're working with less than a hundred feet of altitude in here. Alright you're doing fine but be careful we have about a seventy-five degree turn to the left coming up. To manage the turn you're going to have to reduce speed and use your rudder. If your aircraft starts to drop quickly when you apply left rudder, don't worry, that altitude change is going to help you make the turn. If you want, you can add a little bit of left roll in but don't use too much."

While she was giving the baroness those instructions, Nagase was suiting her actions to her words and reducing her speed. Letting her fingers lightly grasp her control stick, Nagase brought her wings up in a fifteen degree bank and gave her Hawk a measured amount of left rudder. Like it was on rails, the Hawk made the left turn with room to spare. Kitori stared slackjawed as the pilot of the little trainer aircraft put the bird through its paces and performed moves she'd never seen before. And if that wasn't it, Nagase was talking Palvanoff through the underground base as if it was just another sortie for her.

Clamping down on her burgeoning fear and doing everything the other pilot told her to do and when she told her to do it, Kitori began to relax as she got used this kind of flying. It challenged her present skills and forced her to come up with new skills. Midway through the base, Kitori realized that Nagase wasn't giving her any more instructions and rejoiced. She'd learned how to tell what was coming ahead by 'exploding her eyes' out so she could see farther, better, and with more clarity and by watching the tail of Nagase's plane. Kitori also started to anticipate the other pilots' movements and ended up performing the flight maneuver a half second before Kei did.

From her position in the lead, Nagase was able to watch her student approvingly through her three rearview mirrors and by swinging the tail of her Hawk out a bit in preparation for a turn and looking out the side of the cockpit. Knowing the fork in the tunnel that was fast approaching, Nagase wanted Palvanoff to negotiate a section of the tunnel on her own. Kei knew that the tunnel ahead branched in two different directions but ended up coming back together a few hundred yards from the base exit. Reviewing the map in her head, Edge figured that to make the break for the left hand tunnel when it was too late for the aircraft following to negotiate the turn was going to take split micro-second timing.

"If I yaw the tail out early, the baroness will know and follow. To split this flight, I'm gonna have to simultaneously roll and yaw the aircraft and at a higher speed. If my calculations are correct, the split second it takes for the woman behind me to realize what I've pulled, I'll be entering the left hand tunnel and she'll be too close to the right hand tunnel to execute the same maneuver and will have to resign herself to taking the longer route.", murmured Edge.

A minute or so later, Nagase saw the tunnel split and put her plan into action. Waiting till the exact last moment, the married pilot and mother of two young children popped out her speed brake, jammed her left rudder pedal to the stops, and yanked her stick to the left hard. The nimble little trainer responded beautifully: it slowed down so quick that Kitori was caught by surprise. As she was processing the sudden speed drop, she stared agape as the little fighter rolled to the left so fast she was sure Nagase was going to crash. It was at that exact moment when she saw the fork and figured that there was no way she could follow that maneuver in the little amount of space left. Resigning herself to taking the other route by herself with no one leading, Kitori steeled her resolve and vowed that Nagase was not going to show her up.

_**"Just you wait till we get to the dogfighting part of this sortie. I'm going to show you the folly of your ways. No one insults Baroness Kitori Palvanoff or her Dassault Mirage F1!",** thought Kitori as her aircraft entered the right side tunnel. _

All alone in the near darkness of the underground base, Kitori didn't let the horror get to her. She used her newfound skills to navigate through the tunnel. When she saw the waning daylight at the end, Kitori rejoiced. Her nightmare was nearly over. So happy that she was about making it through that small section of tunnel by herself, Palvanoff didn't react at first when her proximity alarm went off. When she did react, the only thing Kitori saw was an orange and white streak exiting a side tunnel at a high rate of speed. Wanting to prove her aerial superiority, Kitori kept her line as the aircraft got closer. Ten yards from the end of the tunnel and as the two planes moved closer and closer together until Kitori was sure they were going to collide in midair; Baroness Palvanoff saw an amazing aerial maneuver for the third or fourth time that day. The other trainer rolled itself inverted as it pulled alongside her aircraft. Kitori listened as Nagase expressed a verbal compliment.

"Not too shabby, Baroness. You're pretty damn good so far. Maybe those Razgriz pilots will want to train with you and help y'all out after all. I know that the number two pilot of the Razgriz will be very interested in my report about you. ", stated Kei much to Kitori's confusion.

"Why would Razgriz Two be so interested in your report about me? Granted I'm a better pilot than you and I look a hell of a lot better. But why would this pilot be so interested in your report?", returned Kitori.

Smothering a chuckle, Kei answered.

"Because Baroness Palvanoff, the Razgriz number two is a woman and she loves seeing women perform in this male dominated career. Many of the enemy pilots from the war we fought years ago would be humiliated to know that they were shot down by a woman. Now don't forget, we still have one more thing to do."

"I won't.", grumbled Kitori.

"Good I'll go left; you go right we'll turn towards each other at twenty-five miles. When you hear me call 'fights' on' that'll be the signal for us to commence the ACM portion of this sortie; and Baroness, one more thing."

"Yeah, what is it now?", complained Kitori.

"I don't intend to make it easy for you so you'd better do your damnest to get me before I get you.", replied Kei in the iciest voice she could manage.

"Yeah, yeah. We'll see. Don't go home crying when I take you apart.", taunted Kitori.

Nagase just chuckled and for some odd reason, Kitori felt a chill as she heard the laughter from the other pilot.

Nagase rolled her plane upright and then waved to Kitori before peeling off to the left. Kitori returned the wave then banked her aircraft in the opposite direction. Both pilots mentally changed their thought processes from the taunting of before to the aerial version of cold-blooded ruthlessness. Even though no live weapons were going to be used (indeed, if there had been a live missile or a full cannon load of ammo, both pilots would've used them so intense was their rivalry), this 1 v 1 dogfight was going to lead to the downfall of somebody's pride. Both Kei and Kitori just hoped that it wasn't their pride that was going to be destroyed.

Back at Sand Island, the Area 88 pilots and their OADF counterparts were all crammed into the communications room listening to the verbal exchanges between the two women. All six men could hear the barely concealed hostility coming from each woman's voice. Bets were being taken by the enlisted radio operators as to who was going to win the best of five.

Mickey Simon leaned against a wall with is arms behind his head. He grimaced as he heard another person place a bet against Kitori. Out of the corner of his eye, the lanky Tomcatter saw Kim Aba shake his head. Both pilots were supposed to be resting but as they stretched out on the couches in the lounge that connected to their quarters (Mickey and Kim were sharing quarters, while Saki, Kitori, and Kazama had their own rooms. All rooms opened up onto a central lounge/sitting room area) when they'd heard about the little competition between the two women. Rushing out of their room, the two had run into Kazama as he was returning from his failed search for the pilot known as Blaze. Mickey had told Shin about the little competition and together the three men had buttonholed one of the low-ranked techs and found out where they could listen in on the dogfight.

As they had entered the communications shack, the Area 88 trio had found the three male Wardog pilots also on their way into the communications shack. Mickey and Kim had stared coldly at Marcus and Hans (who didn't return the look) while Shin and Blaze talked about aviation.

Aba crossed his chest after straightening his turban and asked Mickey a question.

"Hey Mickey, where's the commander? I thought for sure he'd be down here. After all Kitori's his cousin."

"Yeah, I know what you mean. Saki should be here supporting his clanswoman. Last time I saw him was when we were in his room going over the assignments. Saki was planning on getting some sleep so he may still be sacked out in his room.", answered Mickey.

Blaze looked over at the two pilots and shook his head.

"Colonel Vashtarl's up in Colonel Bartlett's office going over the sortie schedule for the next few days. Bartlett sent me to inform Colonel Vashtarl that he wanted to make sure of the sortie schedule. Who knows what's going on up there now? The two of them are probably sitting in the office listening to the same thing we are. Long ago, our former base commander, Colonel Perrault (he's brigadier general now) had a speaker installed in his office so he could listen to flight ops. Bartlett just had upgraded just in case something like this happened.", answered the Wardog flight lead.

Mickey and Kim nodded their thanks as they continued to lean against the wall. The pair ignored the glower from Shin before he returned his attention to the speaker above his head. Across from Kim and Mickey sat Marcus and Hans. As usual, Swordsman had his boot encased feet propped up on a handy chair. In his large hand, the six foot four inch black pilot held a steaming mug of coffee (when things were slow, Snow was a coffee addict. It wasn't too unusual for the pilots of his air wing aboard the old _Kestrel _to find him hanging out in one of the squadron ready rooms with his ever present mug of coffee. He even used to drink the stuff while sitting the 'alert five' watch in the cockpit of his -14D). Archer was resting his head on his wrists as he leaned back in his chair. Once the two trainers had launched, Pops had returned to the hanger and together the pair finished the work on Grimm's Eagle.

Shin Kazama and Blaze Thomas were sitting in chairs next to the radio console using their hands to describe dogfights they'd been involved in. At the moment, Shin was describing his ill-fated encounter with an Atoll- carrying MiG-21 Fishbed while piloting his old F-8E Crusader. Kazama was about to go into more detail about the fight when Nagase's voice came over the radio net saying the words that started the dogfight.

"Fight's on! Call the merge! Hard deck's ten thousand!", grunted Nagase as she yanked the Hawk into a hard right bank and came charging back towards Kitori.

"Right side to right side! Copy hard deck ten thousand feet!", returned Kitori indicating that she wanted to have them pass on each other's right side.

"Copy that. Let's see how good you are!"

"Same goes to you, major!"

As he listened to the communications between his wife and Palvanoff, Blaze turned to one of the techs and asked what the odds were on the outcome of the first sortie.

"Ten to one odds on Major Thomas, sir; the majority of the radio techs think this will be over in three fights. Although some think it'll go the full five. I'm not counting on that though.", answered the tech.

"Hmm, I see. I'll take those odds put me down for fifty. Oh yeah and put me down in the minority who say this exercise will go the full five. Anyone else want a piece of this action?", said Blaze as he directed his question towards the other four pilots in the room.

"Yeah, I'll ante up. Put me down for fifty on Palvanoff. I believe it's only going to go three fights, though.", commented Kim Aba as he made his way over to the fridge and grabbed a bottle of water.

"Nah, it's going to go the whole five, kid. Just from watching how the major handled that Tigershark decides it for me. Although I still think Kitori will triumph.", added Mickey.

"I'll put my fifty on Edge. She's damn good. Edge covered my six a few times over the Jilachi Desert. And I still remember how her and her Tiger protected my young Airman first Class ass when we got bushwhacked here. Blaze, you remember that furball?", stated Hans.

"How could I forget, Archer?, Chopper and I had to deal with those dammed B-1B Lancers while Edge was busy gunning down the Tornados.", replied Blaze, then he went silent as he remembered Chopper Davenport.

Snow turned to Shin and asked him if he wanted in. Kazama demurred at first until Mickey and Kim convinced him to join in. Kazama bet the same as Mickey, fifty on Kitori to win. Kazama agreed with Mickey that the dogfight was going to go the full five rounds. Snow added his own fifty but went with Blaze and picked Edge to win in five.

"So let's see: myself, Swordsman, Mickey, and Shin say it's going to go the full five with Swordsman and I picking Edge while Mickey and Kazama pick Palvanoff. Young Kim Aba picks Kitori to win in three. Archer agrees with the number of rounds but chooses Edge to triumph in three. Looks like a six hundred dollar pot to the winner. We'll have to pick the victor of each round to determine the winner of the overall pot. I wonder what the colonels' are doing?', asked Blaze as he notated the pilots' bets on a sheet of paper.

The other five pilots looked at Blaze and nodded. They wanted to know as well.

Up in Colonel Bartlett's' office, Jack Bartlett and Saki Vashtarl were doing the same thing their pilots were doing down in the radio room. Unlike their pilots, the two older men were splitting a bottle of bourbon that Bartlett had brought with him. Both men had their feet propped up on Bartlett's desk and were reminiscing about dogfights they'd been in before getting moved up to command positions. Pops had joined them a few minutes before after checking out the engines on Mickey's Tomcat and repairing the minor damage on Kazama's Tiger. He too had a glass full of bourbon and was perching on the window sill as the three men listened to the first dogfight. Saki spoke first.

"I bet our pilots are down in the radio room listening to this fight and placing bets on its outcome."

"Colonel, that'd be a sucker bet. Everybody on this island is probably doing the same thing. If they're not gathered by a radio, then they have a buddy listening in and relaying the news by phone, messenger, or radio. I believe that this is the most action this old base has seen in years.", answered Bartlett as he took another swig of his drink.

Pops and Saki nodded before turning their attention back to the radio and listening in. None of the pilots on the ground knew how tough this dogfight was but they could imagine it by just listening to the grunts and curses over the radio.

**1700 Hours. Airborne Over the Cerean Ocean. **

Up in the air, Kitori was now certain of one thing: Major Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas was one 'Sierra Hotel' fighter pilot. Kitori Palvanoff, the Dragon Lady of Area 88, was getting her ass handed to her in this fight.

Every move she made, Nagase had a counter. At the outset, Kitori had planned to use the nimble little trainer to make a hard level turn to immediately slip in behind the other aircraft. It was a maneuver she did exceptionally well. Kitori had pulled it numerous times while flying her F1 and it had always worked. Even on her last sortie in the Mirage, she'd been able to pull it once. This time when Kitori stomped on the right rudder pedal and yanked her trainer into a ninety degree bank, she expected the other aircraft to be almost right in front of her.

It wasn't.

Now Baroness Palvanoff wasn't a nugget pilot getting her first taste of aerial combat so she didn't panic. She just looked around to see if she could spot her adversary. For the first few minutes of searching, Kitori didn't worry. It was after those first few minutes when she still didn't see Nagase that Kitori got nervous. Keeping her head on a swivel and occasionally checking her radar, the baroness kept looking for her quarry; knowing that an aircraft traveling in a straight line in the middle of a dogfight was a good way to get shot down, Kitori kept jinking her aircraft: up, down, left, right. Sometimes she's change her position in the sky by a thousand feet or more.

"Look behind you, Lady Palvanoff.", came Nagase's soft voice over the radio.

Kitori jerked as she heard the voice over her radio. Squirming around in her ejection seat to look over her shoulder, Kitori saw that the other aircraft was saddled up behind her in the perfect firing position.

"If I had been an enemy pilot, Lady Palvanoff, you'd have been dead a few minutes ago."

"What the…..? How did…! Where did you come from?", asked the frazzled Area 88 pilot.

Kei smiled to herself before answering the question. Like most enemy pilots that she'd flown against, Kei had pulled into a vertical bank at the merge and Kitori had immediately gone into her sharp horizontal turn. Kitori's reaction time had impressed Nagase so much that she'd written on the three by five card strapped to the kneeboard on her right thigh her observations on which aircraft (in her opinion) would be best for the former Mirage F1 driver.

_**"Damn, she's pretty good. Needs to learn to keep up her scan and use the vertical a bit more but this woman is pretty damn good. She's about as good as one of the Yuke pilots we allied with over Sudentor. Hell in some respects, Palvanoff is better than Amazon was.", **thought Nagase as she followed Kitori through another defensive maneuver. _

In the lead aircraft Kitori was trying everything she could to shake Edge off her six. Nothing was working and Kitori was just about out of tricks. There was no way she could get an advantage on the woman she was flying against. For the first time in her flying career, Kitori knew how those who found themselves on the other end of her cannons felt. There was only one thing she could do.

"Knock it off. I lost this match.", Kitori called over the radio.

"Copy that. Let's set up for another 1 v 1."

Kitori clicked her mic twice to acknowledge the other pilot before breaking to her right. Behind her, the other aircraft broke left to set up for another head on pass. This time Kitori vowed to not let Edge gain the advantage early in the fight like she did before.

_**"I'll beat her this time!", **Kitori mentally vowed as she waited for Kei to indicate the fight had started. _

Back at Sand Island, the radio room resounded with yells and cheers from the OADF contingent. Mickey Simon and Kim Aba just stared at each other as Marcus Snow and Hans Grimm grinned at each other as their wingmate triumphed in the first skirmish. Blaze growled at them to pipe down.

"This ain't over yet you two. There are still four more set ups to go!. Now listen, they're starting the second skirmish now.", snapped the Wardog flight leader.

The room quieted after Blaze's outburst and returned their attention to the radio. Out of the corner of his eye, Blaze caught the nod of thanks from Kazama and returned it with one of his own. Leaning back in his chair, Blaze slouched down and concentrated on the mock dogfight. He was concerned about the fuel levels of the two combatants. They were a nice distance away and it seemed as if the tanker crew he'd asked for were taking their blasted sweet time launching. Reaching over the shoulder of one the techs, Blaze grabbed one of the phone handsets sitting on the desk. Placing it against his ear and waiting for somebody to answer he grabbed a sheet of paper and a pen with his other hand and did some quick calculations. The results he received did not look good.

_**"Dammit, if they launched with a full bag of gas then they'll need some fuel at the end of the third fight. Their jaunt through the cave didn't help their fuel situation at all. Now all of this yanking and banking and excursions to full throttle is using up their fuel at a prodigal rate. Those dammed tanker pukes need to launch now!", **thought Blaze as he tapped his pen impatiently against the desktop while waiting for somebody to answer the phone. _

When somebody finally answered the phone a few minutes later, Blaze was seething. In the interim the two female aces had finished their second mock dogfight and much to the surprise of the OADF contingent, Kitori Palvanoff had won. Mickey and Kim were looking smug while Snow and Grimm were silent. Kazama hadn't said anything but Blaze could see the hidden look of superiority on Shin's face. Turning back to the console and his calculations, Blaze barked a command at the person on the other end of the line then waited while the person relayed his orders. Once he got an acknowledgement about the tanker launch, Blaze hung up the handset.

Tapping the controller his shoulder, Blaze asked the man where the extra headsets were. The man reached into a drawer beside his position and pulled out his spare and handed it to Blaze. The pilot placed the headset on his head and plugged into the communications net. Waiting for a break in the conversation between Kei and Kitori, Ian tapped his fingers on the desk.

"Stormrider Lead, Sand Castle, say state."

In the lead Hawk, Kei had been jotting down a few more notes about her opponent. The baroness had impressed her with her flying this time. She'd learned a bit from the first match and at the merge both pilots had pitched up into the vertical. Seeing that she was going to be on the losing side of the 'vertical scissors', Edge had waited for Kitori to pull her aircraft up so that they were canopy to canopy. When the time came and Edge was looking over her head into Kitori's cockpit, Kei had dropped her nose just before the climb had topped out and accelerated and immediately broke into a right bank to set up for her next maneuver and tried to sucker Palvanoff into an angles fight. Palvanoff wasn't having it and let her climb top out before dropping her nose and pushing her throttles to max power.

Yanking her Hawk onto its back, Kitori gained a lot of energy and was able to turn it into extra speed. Nagase, in the middle of her power sapping bank, rolled out and tried to escape but Palvanoff used her extra momentum and quickly gained a firing position on her opponent. Kei had just called Kitori and let her know that she'd won this one when Blaze's call came through and she checked her fuel gauges. Lifting an eyebrow in surprise as she saw that her fuel totalizer had her at around twelve hundred or so pounds, Nagase knew that it was time to hit the tanker.

"Sand Castle, Stormrider Lead is reporting 1200 pounds. I hope you got a filling station on the way."

"Stormrider, Sand Castle, the gasman is on the way. You and your wingman go to max conserve and wait for them to arrive. Let Stormrider Two tank first, she's probably got less gas than you do."

"Copy that. Baroness, you copy Sand Castle?", Edge asked the baroness.

"Who the hell is Sand Castle?", snapped Palvanoff.

"That's the base, genius! They want us to refuel since I know that you're probably under a thousand pounds of gas. Join on my right wing and go to max conserve. We'll wait for the tanker to arrive. When it does, you tank first. Sand Castle, how much do you want us to get?"

"Stormrider Lead. Get a full bag of gas that should get you through your remaining exercises."

"Copy that Sand Castle. Stormrider's breaking off to refuel before returning to the lesson at hand."

"Hah!, I'm up two wins to one, major. What lesson are you talking about: the one I'm teaching you or the one you were supposed to teach me!", commented Palvanoff over the channel.

"Stormrider Two, knock it off Kitori! Just follow orders and join on the major so you can refuel!", came Shin Kazama's voice over the radio.

"Okay, okay. Alright I'll get the gas. Then I'll get back to business.", grumped Kitori as she joined on Nagase's wing.

Shin clicked his transmit button twice before relinquishing the headset to the tech he'd gotten it from. Blaze had indicated that he wanted Shin to talk to Palvanoff. Blaze listened as Kei and Kitori checked in with the tanker as it arrived before unhooking his headset and handing it back to the tech who'd given it to him. Returning to his seat after grabbing a bottle of water, the Wardog pilot waited for the action to recommence. He knew that his wife, even though she was down, would triumph. From his point of view, Blaze knew that Kei hadn't even opened her bag of tricks yet.

_**"Kitori Palvanoff is about to get a big surprise if she thinks she's going to easily win."**, mused Blaze. _

He expected Kei to win the next two matches within forty-five minutes and return to base. After all, they had a beach date planned.

Up in the air, Kitori and Kei were about to start their fourth aerial combat match. Kitori was up by one but Kei was about to put the older woman in her place. Mentally reviewing her tactics, Kei decided to use a tactic to force Kitori into a two circle fight. With her experience in the aircraft growing, Kei knew that she had to beat Kitori quickly and set up for the final match. Estimating that it would take her ten minutes, Edge gritted her teeth and a feral smile came over her. She had this match won.

Instead of ten, it took five minutes and Kei had forced Kitori into an untenable position she couldn't break out of. At the merge, both aircraft had pitched into the vertical but Kitori had come into the break with more momentum. Kei had seen this and waited for the other Hawk to edge slightly past her aircraft. When it did, she popped out her speed brakes, ruddered her aircraft over behind the other, and waited for Palvanoff to run out of airspeed. When she did and dropped her nose, Kei triggered her gun cameras and taken the picture. The cross hairs of her HUD were superimposed over Kitori's helmeted head in her cockpit.

"You're dead Palvanoff. Let's set up for the last mock dogfight.", commented Nagase calmly.

In her cockpit, Kitori slammed her gloved fist down on her canopy rail and cursed to herself. She'd made a mistake and the cocky bitch had nailed her. Now the scored was tied and that did not sit well with Palvanoff. Nagase was good, too good. She was so much better than Kitori was that the baroness knew that Edge could have finished this mock combat in the first three battles. Now with the score tied, Edge was going to be even harder to beat.

"Alright, let's set it up and see who wins. This is the last one and it's for all the marbles. I'm not going to go easy on you and I don't want you to go easy on me. Fly this one like you mean it!", snarled Kitori.

"Okay, if that is the way you want it. Don't come crying to me when you lose.", retorted Edge.

The two women peeled off in different directions and flew a short ways out before doing a one eighty and coming head on. This time Edge called the merge.

"Let's do this, Palvanoff, left side to left side at the merge. Fights on!"

Both Hawk aircraft came charging at each other head on. With a closing speed of around six hundred miles an hour the two aerial valkyries passed each other with both aircraft heeled over in a seventy-five degree bank. Edge went left wing down at the merge and pulled hard into a climbing spiral. Looking over her head through the cockpit canopy, she saw that the baroness was pulling the same maneuver. Deciding to break out of the developing two-circle fight, Edge pushed her throttles to max power, reversed her roll and pulled into a climbing right turn.

Palvanoff saw that within seconds of her turn the two aircraft were going to head to head again and dived to regain some of the energy she lost when she pulled up into her climbing turn. As she dove, the baroness kept one eye on the other woman's aircraft. Sensing that the time was right, Kitori pulled up and converted the energy from her dive into a screaming climb. As she climbed, her Hawk passed Nagase's Hawk in the midst of its right turn.

Trying to return the fight to neutral ground as Kitori passed her while climbing; Nagase reversed her turn to keep Kitori in sight. Deciding to initiate her own shallow climb so she could keep Kitori in sight, Kei went nose up and reduced power. With one eye on her airspeed and one eye on the other aircraft, Nagase waited for the Kitori's climb to top out. She was pleasantly surprised to see her opponent loop the trainer then start down again. Acting fast, Nagase went inverted and moved in behind the baroness.

Seeing her predicament as Nagase inched closer and closer to a perfect firing position on her tail, Kitori jinked every way she could to do anything to force Nagase into an overshoot. She'd roll left and Nagase would follow! She'd roll right, Nagase would follow. To Kitori it was like trying to get rid of a clingy and annoying boyfriend. In desperation, Kitori blew out her speed brakes and barrel-rolled. As she came out of the roll, Kitori saw the other aircraft flash past. Unable to react in time, Nagase had overshot and blown right past Kitori. In seconds the quiet OADF major had gone from the hunter to the prey.

"Dammit, I screwed that up! Now to see if I can flip the script again and regain my advantage.", Nagase cursed to herself through the grunts as she fought the effects of positive and negative G forces on her body.

Looking over her shoulder, Nagase saw that Kitori had come out of her barrel roll and was nearly locked into firing position. Pushing her throttles up, Nagase broke to the left and pulled hard. When she saw her opponent commit to the left turn, Nagase immediately rolled back to the right and pushed her control stick forward. Knowing that for a half-second she'd be clear before Kitori realized where she'd gone, Kei pulled back up into the vertical. She had a plan that was going to end this fight decisively once and for all.

In her cockpit, Kitori was wildly looking around. Just as she'd committed to her left turn, her opponent had disappeared. Relaxing her bank and giving the stick a little back pressure, Palvanoff continued to search for Nagase. A glint of sunlight off of Nagase's canopy gave Palvanoff her position. Nagase was starting a full power climb. Rolling right and pushing up her speed, Kitori lit off after her. Seeing the angles start to work in her favor, Kitori planned to catch Nagase just as she ran out of airspeed and end this little competition.

Over in the other Hawk, underneath her dark helmet visor and oxygen mask, Nagase grinned. Kitori had just done exactly what Kei wanted her to do. Her instincts were telling her that her climb was going to top out several hundred feet above Kitori and in that instant, Kei planned to purposely depart her aircraft just enough so that for a second or three she looked like an easy target to Kitori. When the baroness moved in for the simulated kill, Nagase hoped that by that time, she would've regained control of her aircraft enough to end this fight.

To an armchair dogfighter it looked as if Kitori Palvanoff was about to win this mock dogfight. Especially when they witnessed Nagase's aircraft start to tumble out of control. To the experienced eye, the tumbling Hawk looked like what it was meant to look like: an aircraft that the pilot had intentionally put out of control to gain that nth degree of advantage to win the dogfight.

In her cockpit, Kitori Palvanoff saw Nagase's aircraft go out of control and she grinned. This match was hers.

"Easy meat.", she grunted as she eased up her climb.

In doing that, Kitori did the one thing no self respecting fighter pilot would do when locked in a life or death struggle: she got predictable and allowed her aircraft to travel in a straight line. It was only for a few seconds but it was enough for Kei to end the battle.

Keeping her eye on her target and her hands away from her control stick as her Hawk went out of control, Kei waited for the correct moment. When it came, it came as an expected surprise and it came at just the right time. Just as her Hawk righted itself and came back under her control, Kei saw her chance.

There was the other trainer aircraft traveling in a straight predictable climb. It was the moment in aerial combat that Kei Nagase lived for. As she watched, time compression set in and everything seemed like it was going in slow motion. There was the distinctive pointed nose of a Hawk trainer gradually riding to meet what Kitori thought was an out of control aircraft.

Taking a deep breath, Kei Nagase dropped her nose and squeezed the trigger on her control stick. Instead of 20 mm cannon shells erupting from the cannon, a series of pictures were taken. Each picture denoting the target superimposed over Nagase's crosshairs. When she released the trigger, the camera stopped. The last picture was the one that would prove to the others who'd won this fight. In the picture, the crosshairs for the cannon in the nose of the little aircraft were superimposed on the face of her opponent. At the very same moment she released her trigger, Kitori called her own shot. Nagase smiled as she heard Kitori's words. She didn't have to deny anything; the picture she took would explain it all. Nagase glanced at her heads up display and saw where her crosshairs were situated.

The point where the horizontal and vertical lines met was situated right on the bridge of Kitori Palvanoff's nose underneath her oxygen mask.

Nagase made the call.

"It's over. Knock it off. Palvanoff you lose.", stated Major Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas with a note of finality in her voice.

When she heard Nagase's announcement over the radio Kitori Palvanoff was stunned. She'd lost? There's no way in hell she could've lost again. Nagase couldn't have pulled off a ninety degree guns shot from where she was. For chrissakes' the other aircraft had departed and Nagase had been out of control. She couldn't have recovered her aircraft and gotten a visual on Kitori's aircraft in the very short amount of time she'd had. Kitori stammered a bit but she got her denial out over the radio.

"Bullshit, you couldn't have regained control of your aircraft that quick. Even if you did, there is no way you could have gotten off a shot. This win is mine, Nagase.", Kitori shouted over the radio.

"Baroness, its time to return to base, when we land, I'll show you who won this duel.", Edge returned calmly.

Kitori with no other choice fumed silently as she joined up on Kei's wing. The entire flight back to Sand Island was made in silence. Fearing that any words from her would ignite the incendiary temper of the woman in the other aircraft and preferring to fly without speaking anyway, Kei didn't say anything to the fuming baroness. For her part, Kitori refused to even contemplate talking much less admitting to being beaten. Just wait till they recovered back at Sand Island, Kitori was going to shove her fist down Nagase's throat.

Back at Sand Island Blaze, Shin, and their respective contingents had ventured out to the flightline to watch the two trainers land. The sun was starting to drop and against the spectacular sunset the silhouettes of the Hawks made for a fantastic picture if somebody had been there to capture the moment.

Twenty minutes later, both aircraft had landed and were being towed to their hanger. Still in their flight and g-suits Kei and Kitori had clambered down from their respective cockpits and were heading to the briefing room with their respective cliques. Palvanoff had been the first of the two women to dismount her jet. The minute her flight boots hit the ground, she'd ran over to where Nagase's aircraft was being serviced and hooked up to a towbar. Edge had already dismounted and was talking with the plane captain. She was asking the young man to check the starboard wing for any loose nuts, bolts, or rivets. Nagase feared that she might have overstressed the little trainer in the last battle.

"Oh yeah, pull the film from the gun cameras and get it developed. There's some evidence on it that shows who won the last fight.", commented Edge as she slid out of her g-suit.

"No prob major. We'll have it pulled and developed shortly. I'll have my people make developing that film a priority. Everyone who heard the fight wants to see those pictures.", returned the plane captain.

Edge signed the aircraft logbook in the spot indicated stating that she had no problems with the aircraft and it could be put back in to service immediately once it had been refueled, checked, and the camera's reloaded with film. Hearing the angry footsteps storming in her direction, Nagase turned to face the baroness. She quirked an eyebrow as she noticed that Kitori had her fist cocked back as if to through a punch.

Kitori saw red upon spotting her opponent talking calmly with a ground crewman and clenched her fingers into a fist. Approaching the other woman, Kitori allowed her rage to take over and pulled her arm back in preparation of throwing the first punch.

_**"Two more steps and I'll be able to wipe that smug look off of her face!"**, thought Kitori. _

Just as she reached the point where her fist would connect with Nagase's nose, a familiar voice cracked out over the flightline like a whip.

"Baroness Kitori Palvanoff, cease your actions at once!", snapped Colonel Vashtarl.

"But highness!"

"Baroness Palvanoff, report to my quarters right now! That's an order! Do not bring further dishonor on to yourself.", Saki continued as he overrode Kitori's pleading.

Seeing the dark frown being cast her way by the prince, Kitori had no choice but to swallow her pride and do as she was commanded. It galled her to have to suffer this indignity in front of strangers, especially male strangers, but she squared her shoulders, turned on her heel, and made her way in the direction of the hanger's locker room. Kitori knew that she was in for a strong lecture when the prince returned. She just hoped that he didn't make her wait for a long time as was his right. Kitori had heard through the family grapevine that Saki had once made one of their younger cousins wait nearly four hours for a lecture after a minor transgression that could've been easily written off as childish play.

As the baroness walked semi-dejectedly off, Edge caught Blaze's eye and lifted a questing eyebrow. Blaze saw the question in his wife's eyes and quickly glanced beyond his five foot six inch wife at the statuesque five foot eleven baroness heading for the same place as the other pilot. He started to take a step in that direction but the quick shake of his wife's head and the warning look in her eyes gave him pause. Confused for a moment, Blaze came up with a plan. Mouthing some words to his wife he waited for her to understand and stroll off in the same direction as Palvanoff. Turning to the rest of the gathered pilots, Blaze wrapped an arm around Shin's neck and gently but forcibly faced him in the direction of the briefing room.

"Gentleman, now that the evening's entertainment has passed, why don't we retire to the lounge and wait for those gun camera photos to be developed?", asked Blaze, successfully shifting the attention of the crowd.

Not giving anyone a chance to answer, Blaze dragged Kazama along with him as he headed for the pilots lounge. Walking in the opposite direction of her friends and wingmates, Nagase offered up a wry smile to the orange-hued sky above. Her husband's irreverence won over the gathered crowd and the five remaining pilots followed their erstwhile leader towards the operations building.

"Give the baroness a bit of room before you approach her, Edge. She's not happy about the result of today's exercise right now.", came a quiet voice from behind her.

"Well what do you recommend to help break the ice?", Edge asked of the voice without turning around.

Not hearing any reply from the mystery speaker, Nagase's shoulders slumped until she felt the mystery conversationist slip a bottle of something cold and wet into her hand. Recognizing the shape, Edge grinned again before replying.

"You know I can't drink this now. I gotta swim date with my husband planned for later and I'd rather his attention not be diverted because I'm half drunk and stumbling through the waves.", stated Kei.

There was no reply.

Nagase just shrugged her shoulders and continued following Baroness Palvanoff.

**1910 Hours. Sand Island Base. Hanger Twelve. Pilots Locker Room and Shower. **

Kitori stood naked under the shower nozzle and let the warm spray of water cascade over her head and rinse the remainder of the shampoo out of her shoulder length black hair. The shampoo she used was a special blend made exclusively for the female members of the Asranian Royal Family and it was Kitori's lone acknowledgment of her status within the family hierarchy.

The baroness was currently running the last fight through her memory as she stood with her head downcast. She'd been in the shower for the past ten minutes and the water was starting to go cold. Hearing the door to the communal shower in the locker room, Kitori gritted her teeth. Would she ever be able to find some time of her own before she met with the prince in his quarters. Kei Nagase had entered the locker room just as Kitori had finished putting her flight gear away and sat down on the bench in the middle of the room. She'd heard the other woman stop then mutter something to herself before leaving the locker room. Kitori had seen the tips of Nagase's flight boots as she had turned around and left the area. Feeling some wetness on her cheeks at that time, Kitori realized that she was silently sobbing.

_**"Crying, I'm crying? Crying over a defeat in a training exercise? I don't cry, I never cry! I haven't cried in seventeen years! I shouldn't be crying over something as petty as that!",** fumed the baroness as her tears stubbornly refused to stop._

At the time, Kitori had wiped her eyes and finally stopped sobbing and started retrieving her personal toiletries so she could take a shower. It was in the shower when the baroness realized that she hadn't' been sobbing at her loss to a better pilot, she'd been sobbing because of her humiliation by her betrothed in front of her wingmen and those who were going to help.

"Are you alright, Kitori?", asked Nagase as she prepared for her own shower.

"I'm fine, Nagase. Everything is fine. I'm about finished if you need this stall, although there may not be any hot water left.", replied Kitori as she lifted her head and shut off the water.

"Don't worry about using up the hot water. There's enough left that I'll be alright."

Kitori grunted as she stepped out of the stall and toweled her herself dry. Wrapping the large beach towel around her body and tucking the end in the valley made by her 33C cup breasts to secure it, she made her way to the sinks. As she made her way past the last of the showers and turned the corner, Kitori stopped. There stood Kei Nagase-Thomas at a sink brushing her teeth naked as a jaybird.

Kitori eyed the shorter woman's blemish-free porcelain white skin in awe. Kitori had never seen skin so fair in her entire life. Even the skin of some of her female cousins didn't compare to the beauty in front of her. Almost against her will, Kitori felt herself reaching out a hand to see how soft Nagase's skin was. When she touched the skin, it electrified her as she felt the softness.

Edge had been finishing up with her tooth brushing and was putting her toothbrush and toothpaste away when she felt Kitori's touch. Gasping in surprise and whirling to face the older woman, Nagase stammered to say something but it caught in her throat as she saw the fright on Kitori's face. Kitori was stepping back and held a hand up to her mouth.

"I….I….I'm sorry, I just wanted to feel how soft your skin was? I was just curious.", stammered the former Mirage F1 pilot.

Nagase shook her head. Whenever she was around other female pilots, whether it be in a locker room or at a formal dinner, they all wanted to touch her skin just to see for themselves how soft it was. She was partially used to it by now.

"It's no problem, Kitori. I'm used to this. It happens to me a lot."

Sighing in relief, Kitori took a tentative step forward and asked Nagase how she kept her skin so soft. Kei answered that it was the lotion she used after she got out of the shower.

"Everytime I fly, I have to use the lotion afterwards. Otherwise my skin would loose its softness."

"Does it work?", asked Kitori in a small voice.

Kei gave Kitori an evilly smug grin before answering.

"Oh yeah it works! My husband can't keep his hands off of me!", Nagase replied with a knowing wink.

Kitori returned the major's wink with a nod of her own. Kitori continued to watch as Edge finished what she was doing at the sink before turning her fantastic body in the direction of the shower stalls. Stepping to one side to let the other woman pass, Kitori noticed that Nagase lifted an eyebrow as she saw how far Kitori's towel poked out where it covered her breasts. Anticipating the next question, Kitori answered it.

"33C cup if you're wondering. Not the largest in my family but not the smallest either."

"Oh, mine are only a B cup; 28B to be exact. Even though I often complain to my husband about their size and wish they were a bit larger, Blaze always tells me that their perfect.", returned Nagase with a slight tinge of embarrassment showing on her cheeks.

Kitori shook her head in negation and told the younger woman to not worry about her tit size. As long as she was happy with the results she received from her husband about them, Nagase daren't think about getting breast enlargement surgery. The other woman sighed and gave Kitori a half smile before entering one of the shower stalls and turning on the water.

Kitori made her way over to the sink Nagase had just vacated and stood in front of its mirror. Letting her towel drop, she examined her breasts in the pane of glass and gave a satisfied whistle. Rummaging through her toiletries bag, Kitori pulled out her anti-perspirant and applied it under hear arms. Once that was done, she reached for a fresh bra and panty set. Taking the pink briefs and slipping them on, Palvanoff pulled them up her legs and situated them just right. Minutes later, as Kitori was slipping into a fresh flight suit, she heard a muffled curse from the shower stall. Confused and curious, the Asranian baroness stepped over to the entrance to the shower area and called back to the other woman. It took a few tries but Nagase heard her over the rush of the shower water.

"I'm outta shampoo, dammit! The minute I step outta this barracks area my hair is going to frizz up so bad I'm gonna look like that dammed Medusa!", swore Edge.

Kitori glanced back at her kit bag and saw that her prized bottle of shampoo sat forlornly on the edge of the sink. Sighing to herself, Kitori strode over and picked it up. Entering the shower area, she made her way to the stall where the water was running and opened the curtain just enough to place the bottle on the ledge that ran the length of the wall of the stall.

"Here, use mine. I'll pick it up from you later. Don't use a lot though, this bottle is the only one I brought with me.", Kitori stated as Nagase accepted the shampoo.

"Uh, thanks Kitori. I appreciate it. I'll make sure you get it back as soon as possible.", replied Nagase.

"Don't sweat it. We women got to stick together in this male-dominated profession. So what if we remember that we're women first and fighter pilots second. They just gotta deal with it."

Nagase smothered a laugh; she was beginning to feel that Baroness Palvanoff was a kindred spirit. Bringing her attention back to the present, Nagase was able to catch Kitori's departing words before the door closed and cut them off. Humming to herself as she poured a dollop of the shampoo into her hand and began to lather her hair with it, Kei caught the soft floral scent as it wafted into her nose. Smiling to herself, Kei realized that at the core of her being, Baroness Kitori Palvanoff was exactly like her. Like Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas, Kitori Palvanoff was little girl at heart.

_**"Maybe I'll give the baroness a chance to pilot my Rhino sometime in the coming two or three weeks. I believe that she'll be a perfect pilot for either a Falcon or a Super Hornet.",** mused Nagase before her mind turned to what her husband was presently doing. _

**1947 Hours. Sand Island Base. Air Operations Building. Pilots Lounge. **

Oblivious to his wife's musings, Ian 'Blaze' Thomas sat in one of the old ready room chairs off of the Osean Eighth Naval Fleet flagship, _OFS Condor,_ that were taken out when she was undergoing service life extension work and renovations three years after the Circum-Pacific War. At the present time he was kicking back with the pilots and relaxing. Bartlett had retired for the evening to clean up his quarters and prepare for the visit from his wife and daughter the next day. Pops had begged off saying that he wanted to get some more work done on the present aircraft as he waited for the pilot ferrying Blazes' T-Shark in from Heierlark to arrive.

The ferry pilot, a war veteran nicknamed 'Rumrunner' was bringing the T-shark in and returning the X-29 back to Heierlark. Once the X-29 was safely back at its home base, Rumrunner was going to bring Edge's Rhino down and fly her Tigershark back north. After a few hours of rest, the ferry pilot was going to be busy ferrying aircraft to different Osean Air Defense Force bases around the world before returning to Sand Island.

Blaze glanced over to his right and saw that Colonel Vashtarl was deep in conversation with Shin Kazama while Aba and Simon played a semi-friendly game of pool With Snow and Grimm over in the corner. Checking his watch, Blaze saw that it would soon be time for him to make his escape and meet Edge so they could go for their sunset swim together.

A little bit bored, Blaze picked up the phone handset and called the weather room to find out what time sunrise was set for. As he heard the answer, a plan began to form in his mind. Hanging up the handset after thanking the weather watchers, Blaze rose from his seat and headed for the door. On his way out, he called over to Swordsman.

"Hey Marcus, I'm calling it a night and leaving it in your hands. Rumrunner's supposed to be here in a few hours so have the coffee pot ready. You know he's going to be flying all night tonight bringing those planes in."

"Yeah, I know. You go and have fun. Anything comes up; I'll pass it on to the colonel and Pops. You makin' any stops before you reach your quarters?"

"Nah, I just got off the line with the weather guessers and found out what the early morning weather was going to be like."

The Eternal Swordsman frowned. If Blaze had just gotten off the line with the weather shack and asked about the early morning weather, there was only one thing it could mean. And Snow didn't like that answer one damn bit. He needed his sleep. Turning to the door, he saw that Blaze had already escaped and he cursed, much to the amusement of the other Tomcat pilot in the room.

"What's up Snow, you thinking about how much you're gonna owe me once you tank this shot?", asked Mickey as he chalked up his cue stick.

Snow shook his head negative and proved it by sinking the difficult shot with ease. Stepping back from the table, the six foot four carrier aviator placed his hand on Archer's shoulder and muttered the two most hated words of Wardog Squadron.

"Archer, we got a dawn patrol tomorrow morning. I just hope that our guests get enough sleep."

Grimm groaned as he heard his wingman's words. He'd done enough of those during the war. After they shot down the SOLG and he resigned his commission and started college, Hans had felt greatly relieved that he'd never have to be up at the crack of dawn flying in a war weary jet. Granted, the sunrises were spectacular when he was awake and coherent enough to watch but Grimm loved his sleep.

"Awww shit, not a dawn patrol. I thought I was done with those for eternity. Dammit Blaze, why're you doing this. Shit, this sucks. I bet Edge is going to the one of us pissed off the most. Ever since her wedding and the birth of her two children, Nagase absolutely abhors getting up that early unless she needs to do something. I can't remember how many times since our retirement and their wedding that Blaze has been consigned to the couch because he kept waking her up so early in the morning!", fumed Archer as he tightened his grip on the shaft of his pool stick.

Kazama had finished his conversation with Vashtarl and had appropriated a seat near the billiards table so he could watch the game. Colonel Vashtarl had departed to get some rest. After the excitement of the day, he was a bit tired. Shin had heard Swordsman's words to Archer and Archers' pointed reply. Curious, Shin asked what was wrong. Snow answered.

"It's nothing, sir, nothing important. I was just informing Archer that we have an early morning go time for launch tomorrow. Major Thomas wants us to do a dawn patrol."

"Dawn Patrol? What's a dawn patrol Major Snow?", asked Mickey.

Archer and Swordsman looked at each other and sighed. Snow was about to answer when Grimm beat him to it.

"A dawn patrol is an old Wardog Squadron tradition started by one of our old wingmen. He set it up with a ground crewman when we were stationed here before and during the Circum-Pacific War of 2010. Early in the morning, probably a few minutes before sunrise, Blaze is going to have the air raid siren go off. Back during the war, the air raid siren going off meant a hot scramble with everyone running to their planes and trying to get them launched as quickly as possible. At the first dawn patrol, a bunch of us pilots were woken up and came charging out to our aircraft. We launched in record time and formed up only to find out that Davenport had wanted us to be flying so we could watch the sun come up. When we landed after that first dawn patrol, Captain Bartlett read Davenport the riot act six ways from Sunday and ordered him to not pull such a damn fool stunt ever again."

"I see, sounds interesting.", commented Shin.

"Keep thinking that when the siren goes off and wakes you up from a deep sleep. We'll see how interesting you'll find it then.", returned Archer.

**2100 Hours. Sand Island Air Force Base. North Beach. **

Kei Nagase-Thomas and her husband lay side by side in one of the lounge chairs situated on the north beach of the base and together they watched the stars and conversed quietly. The pair had been lying in the lounge chair ever since they'd met up with each other in their quarters and strolled hand in hand to the beach. Once on the beach, Ian and Kei had stripped down to their swimwear (as promised, Edge was wearing her husband's favorite bikini) and jogged down to the water for their swim.

The Thomas's had swam together for about forty-five minutes or so before returning to the shallows and holding each other for a few minutes to reaffirm their love. Later, Blaze had picked Edge up and cradled her in his arms as he made his way to the lone lounge chair sitting on the beach. As usual, Edge had marveled as her husband (who couldn't stand more than five foot seven inches tall and weighed around two hundred pounds soaking wet) could pick her one hundred fifty-five pound five foot six inch petite frame and carry her cradled against his chest like one carried a baby.

"You washed your hair tonight, didn't you Edge?", asked Blaze as he trailed one finger lightly along one silky smooth leg.

"Yeah, I ran out of shampoo. The baroness loaned me hers though.", replied Edge softly as she smothered a chuckle.

"I see. It must be a special shampoo. It smells different and much better than your old shampoo. You'll have to ask her where she bought it."

"I will. Did you see the photo from my gun cameras?", asked Edge as she rolled over onto her stomach.

"Oh yeah I did. I was walking past the hangar when the photo tech grabbed me and showed it to me. Nice placement of your pipper there, hon."

"Did they leave the time stamp on the picture so that the winner could be proven?"

"Yeah, they did. Your finger beat hers by about three seconds. I don't think she's going to like that?"

Edge smiled to herself. She believed that there would be no more troubles out of Kitori after today. After her shower and after Kitori had survived her lecture from Colonel Vashtarl, the two women had met up in the galley and talked a bit while trying to get to know each other a bit better. Edge believed that with her present skills Kitori Palvanoff would make an excellent addition to the Hornet Mafia and planned to subtly push her into choosing the Hornet over the Falcon when it became time for her to pick.

Blaze listened to his wife's easy breathing as they lay motionless and relaxed. He had a feeling that after the dawn patrol, Bartlett would probably send him back to Heierlark. He knew Bartlett wanted Blaze to give his own unbiased observations on the Area 88ers and his being on base in proximity to his wingmen would bias his opinion. His old flight instructor wanted Blaze to come in without any knowledge about his opponents therefore his observations would carry no taint of bias.

Ian told Kei about his thoughts. As expected, Edge wasn't too happy about it but saw Bartlett's reasoning by the temporary banishment. As it was, Edge planned on not being in close proximity once those two returned from their mock dogfight sorties against Colonel Vashtarl and his aces.

"Well, then, my beloved. What do you think we should do before you're sent off into exile? I assume you have plans for your last night in my company for awhile?", asked Edge coyly.

"You know me better than that, love. Of course I have plans; however, those plans will have to be put on hold so we can get some rest. I've set up a dawn patrol for our guests and I wanna be well rested for that. If my plans were to go into effect tonight, I know that neither of us would get enough rest.", answered Blaze.

Edge rose up and looked at her husband in disbelief. Her idiot husband set up a dawn patrol! And he was going to be away from Sand Island for a few days! Damn his hide!! She started cussing in her native language. Blaze knew the majority of what she was saying even though he didn't completely understand his wife. However, he lifted an eyebrow as Edge called him names he'd never heard before in either language. When she sputtered to a halt to take a breath, Blaze quickly kissed her to stop another torrent of abuse before she could get really wound up.

"Give me a break, Edge. I'll be back before you know it and then the plans we hold off for tonight will be even better and sweeter then.", commented Blaze as he gently stroked her face with his hand.

Seeing the wisdom in his murmured words, Edge subsided and agreed to his decision. In the back of her mind, she was already planning on ways to make his return even better. The couple spent another hour out under the stars before retiring for the night. They had to prepare for an early and event-filled day tomorrow and wanted to get as much rest as possible.

**0521 Hours. Sand Island Air Force Base. Next Day. **

Everything was quiet. The guards on duty were preparing for their last rounds and looking forward to hitting the messhall and grabbing an early breakfast before retiring to their quarters to get their sleep. Once they went off duty, any problems that happened were no longer any worry of theirs unless the temporary base commander wanted to be a pimple on the abscess. And from what they could gather from their colleagues, this colonel was a good man to work for.

Over in one of the maintenance hangers, some of Pops mechanics were finishing up the last critical repairs on the visiting aircraft. The Tiger had gotten a replacement vertical stabilizer while the visiting Tomcat had both of its engines swapped out for new ones. Pops had taken one look at the state the old engines were in and shook his head in appreciation. Whoever had worked on the engines at Area 88 to keep this aircraft flying knew his shit, but as with all things, it was time to replace the old engines with a fresh pair right out of overhaul. Rumrunner had borrowed Pops' Greyhound and made an extreme late night run up to Heierlark to grab the new set while the mechanics at Sand Island took out the old pair. At the moment, the techs were finishing up the last of the installation work and were buttoning up the open panels that had facilitated the engine swap. They were exhausted after working though the night but they wanted to hear this Cat purr with its new heart. For them that would be a good enough reward.

Out on the flightline, a pair of aircraft sat and waited for their pilots to strap in. Edge glanced at her husband as she finished up some pre-flight checks on her Rhino. She did a double take when she realized that Blaze was wearing the flightsuit issued to him by his F-20 Instructor on the day Blaze qualified in the Tigershark. It was called a party suit because it was the custom-tailored flashier, yet functional, flightsuit worn by a pilot specifically to attend a squadron or wing party. Party suits came in a variety of colors that depend more or less on the squadron's colors. A friend of Edge's from flight school had joined the Two Hundred and Fifteenth Tactical Fighter Squadron based out of McNealy Air Force Base. The 215th was nicknamed the 'Ice Dragon' Squadron. The Ice Dragon Squadron party suits were a vivid blue with a white trim that looked like icicles. In addition, the fabric looked shiny as if it was an actual dragon scale.

Both Edge and Blaze had several party suits, however their favorite party suits were their Razgriz suits. The Razgriz party suits were a stark black with grey trim. The Razgriz patch on their left shoulder was done to mimic the Razgriz emblem on the vertical stabilizers of their Razgriz aircraft. At the top of the patch was a section done in dark grey with red trim and the words '_The Ghosts of Razgriz'_ sewn in white. The rest of the patch was done in muted variations of the colors grey and black. All in all it looked striking, especially against the all black flightsuits. The Razgriz party suits were rarely worn anywhere other than Heierlark Base. If those suits were worn away from Heierlark, they were usually complemented by the all black Razgriz flight helmets and dark face shields.

The Tigershark party suit was different because it mimicked the colors of an actual Tigershark, mottled grey and black striping that allowed the shark to blend in with its maritime environment. The only touch of color was Ian's callsign stitched in bright orange thread over his right chest slash pocket. Edge had seen that particular flightsuit only three times before. Ian had been asked to exhibit his prowess with the F-20 Tigershark at an air show a few years after the war. Kei had been scheduled to perform a Super Hornet exhibition but had bowed out because her daughter was only eighteen months old and Kei wanted to stay home. The other two times she'd seen Ian's Tigershark party suit was when her husband had given Kita a private air show on the occasion of her fifth birthday and the day of Allen's third birthday when he'd surprised everyone and performed a private air show for their son. Kei called Ian over when she was sure he was finished with is pre-flight checks.

"Blaze, why're you wearing that flightsuit?"

"Oh, I gotta see a man about some planes. Pops asked me to do a favor and pick up a fighter he'd seen at one of the boneyards around Osea. He talked to the guy running the place and made a deal. Several months later, the guy called Pops and told him that the aircraft he wanted was ready. Pops asked me to accompany him down to pick up the bird. On the way back to Heierlark, I was flying the 'hound while Pops put his purchase through its paces.", answered Blaze as he finished his pre-flight checks and gave the white silk scarf hanging from around his neck a toss to resettle it where he wanted it.

Edge mentally shook her head in amusement as she observed his actions. She hadn't seen the scarf at first because of her husband's flight suit. One night a short time after they got married, Edge and Blaze were in bed holding each other and their conversation somehow ended up on their fantasies. Edge had been surprised that ever since flight school he'd always wanted to wear a white silk scarf like his flyboy heroes from the dawn of powered flight. After hearing that quiet revelation, Kei had quietly done a search to see if she could find a scarf so Blaze could make his fantasy come true. It had taken a few years and she had been about to give up in her quest when she found the scarf at a curio shop at a local mall that was full of all kinds of aviation memorabilia. The kindly old shopkeeper who'd given her the scarf for free turned out to be an old fighter pilot from the golden days of aviation and the scarf had been his. It was her love of flying that had convinced the old pilot to part with his most precious keepsake from his youth. The only payment he wanted from Nagase was for her to bring her husband next time and that the two of them sit and tell him their flying stories. She agreed and the very next week Ian accompanied her to the small shop.

The minute, Ian stepped disinterestedly inside the small shop, Edge was treated to the sight of her husband turning into the cute little boy she knew he had been. Ian's eyes had lit up like a child a Christmas and he flittered around the store happily for several hours commenting on this piece of memorabilia or oohing and ahhing over that piece. When Ian met the store owner, the two hit it off so well that Kei thought she had been forgotten as Ian and the shopkeeper told all sorts of stories. She didn't mind though, Kei loved flying as much as her husband did.

After that fateful meeting the relationship between the two young pilots and the old barnstormer turned fighter pilot lasted until the death of the kindly gentleman a few months after their son turned a year old. At the funeral, Kei watched as Ian approached the casket to say his final goodbye to the kind hearted man. As he stood gazing at the peaceful expression on their old friends face, Kei watched her emotionally strong husband broke down and cried like a child. In the end, Kei had to help Ian make his way back to their seats in the church. At the cemetery, the aerial Valkyrie kept a close eye on her husband as he listened to the eulogy. Before the casket was closed for the final time, Ian rose from his seat and made his way to the graveside. Once there, the man known as the Razgriz Demon King got on his knees and reached into the pocket of his black suit and pulled out a folded square of pure white fabric. Edge gasped as she recognized the old yellow scarf that had led to the friendship in the first place, now carefully cleaned and once again gleaming in its brilliance like the day the old pilot first received it. Ian unfolded the scarf reverently and carefully wrapped the ancient piece of fabric around his friends' neck and let it drape the way it had been worn: arrogantly and carelessly flipped over the shoulder informing the crowd (and the world) that the deceased man about to be buried was a pilot.

After the burial, as they stood at eh headstone, Kei quietly asked her husband what he thought their friend was doing at the moment. His answer had made her chuckle.

_"Hon, he's probably up in heaven right now with one hand on his stick and the other hand on the throttle terrorizing the angels with the 'devil may care' attitude common to those who preceded us into the wild blue. I can see him now, silk scarf waving in the wind, leather flight helmet on his head, goggles over his eyes, and his engine firewalled to the max for eternity. One day in the far future, we'll see him again. And he'll be waiting with a bottle of scotch and three glasses. Standing next to him will be Chopper with his usual expression of reckless indifference. And Kei, you know what? I can't wait till that day.", Ian had told her. _

Ian and Kei were the last to leave the cemetery. Before they left, Ian reached back into his coat pocket and pulled out a pair of gold pilots' wings and placed them on the headstone. Next to them he placed a shot glass and filled it with the most expensive scotch he could find. The final thing that her husband did before they left was put the bottle up to his mouth and take a long draught before passing it to her. She did the same and together the first couple of aviation kneeled down in front of the stone and placed the half-full bottle in front of the name plate. On her knees and not carrying that her dress was getting dirty, Edge kissed the granite in her own private goodbye. Hand in hand Ian and Kei Thomas left the final resting place of a great pilot who lived a good life.

Later that night they got completely shit-faced on shots of scotch at their favorite bar. Two days later, Ian received a package in the mail.

It was an old white silk scarf.

Now sitting in the cockpit of her Super Hornet, Edge saw her own addition to the scarf as it fluttered in the breeze. On one end of Blaze's link to pilots past, was a smudge of red. One slow day during her first pregnancy, She'd found the scarf and-on a whim-covered her full lips with red lipstick and giddily kissed the silk. The next morning, when she woke up, the scarf had been wrapped around her neck. Underneath the print of her lips the date along with a cocky little message had been written in permanent black ink. She never questioned the writing and he'd never complained about the lipstick. Kei also knew that five more important dates were written on the scarf: her birth date, his birth date, the date of their wedding, and the days that Kita and Allen were born.

_**"When she's old enough, I'll have to have Kita kiss the scarf like I did. That scarf is going to be a family heirloom. A history of our love for each other.", **thought Kei fondly as an old hand cranked air raid siren started its slow crescendo. _

Strapped in to his fighter, Blaze glanced at his life partner. When he was sure she was watching, he reached down to the end of the scarf marked by her lips and lifted to his lips. Kissing the old imprint of fire-engine red lipstick (a color Kei never wore in public), he gave the silk a careless toss over his left shoulder. He considered the toss his way of honoring those old pilots who had gone before him. Then with a carefree wave, Blaze tripped the switch that closed his canopy. Out of the corner of his eyes, the King of Demons saw the hanger door crash open and bodies start spilling out as the pilots reacted to the siren on instinct.

Blaze started his engine and knew instinctively that his wife had fired hers up at the exact same instant. With his booted feet pressing on the brakes, watched as the groundcrew around his aircraft yanked the chocks out from in front of his landing gear and dashed out of the way. Once he was sure everyone was clear, Blaze advanced his throttles to idle and started to taxi towards the runway. When he reached the long strip of asphalt and concrete, he positioned his aircraft on the far right of the wide runway and waited for the F/A-18E Super Hornet flown by edge to pull up next to him.

Once the Hornet and the Tigershark were side by side on the runway, an unspoken message was passed between the pilots. At exact same time down to the very nanosecond, the two pilots advanced their throttles to max and released the brakes. The two fighters rocketed down the runway and lifted off. Once airborne, Blaze called the control tower and had them patch him through to the P.A. system.

_"Scramble, Scramble! All aircraft scramble. Commence Dawn Patrol!"_

Within five minutes of their lift off, Blaze and Edge were joined in by the rest. Once the ten aircraft were together, Blaze wiggled his wings and advanced his throttles. Behind him, Edge slid her fighter into her usual number two spot off of her husband's left wing. Next to her flew Archer and his eagle. Behind them were Bartlett and Pops in the formers Phantom, Saki Vashtarl's SEPECAT Jaguar, and Swordsman's Super Tomcat. In the last row of planes were Shin, Mickey, Kim, and Kitori (who'd just grabbed the first aircraft she saw as she came sprinting into the hanger).

In formation and matching speeds, the ten aircraft flew towards the East where the sun was just starting to come over the horizon. To Vincent Harling on the ground, the ten aircraft silhouetted against the morning sun made a spectacular picture. Aboard the Yuktobanian carrier _Strizhi _the crew stood at attention along side of the flight deck in their dress white uniforms. On the bridge, Prime Minister Nikanor stood out on the bridge wing of the. Beside and behind him stood his loyal aide Lieutenant Colonel NastasyaBartlett, who at the moment was dealing with her sleepy two year old daughter: Anastasia Jacqueline Bartlett.

Nikanor listened and chuckled quietly as Nastasya cooed to her daughter in a quiet voice before picking her up in her arms. Looking up towards the sky and seeing the formation, the head of Yuktobanian Intelligence scanned the ten aircraft till she saw the one she expected. Taking her daughters arm, she held it up and pointed at the airplane on the outside of the third row.

"See Anna, there goes your papa. Lets wave to him as he flies by.", the tall brown haired woman said to her little girl.

The head of the Yuktobanian laughed again as the young child started waving enthusiastically as the airplanes flew by causing the big yellow ribbon to bounce as it gleamed in the light of the rising sun. He cast his eyes upward as the matching ribbon in his aide's hair (perfectly matched in color, style, and fabric) shook slightly as she waved to the aircraft overhead.

Down on the deck, a thousand men and women came to attention and saluted the formation as it passed over the ship and continued on into the distance. When the airplanes were just specks in the sky, the captain of the ship ordered his men to stand down and return to their duties. Nikanor turned to go and watched as Nastasya started to follow.

"No, Nastasya. You and Anna stay here and watch the sky. They'll be back before you know it.", commented Nikanor in his thick accent.

"But prime minister…..", started the recon expert.

"It's okay. You are not working today. Relax for a bit. Spend time with little Anastasia. We'll be there in a matter of hours."

Nastasya started to reply the way she'd been trained but cut it short when Nikanor waved it off and stepped through the hatch. Letting the tears that were forming in her eyes start to fall; the intelligence expert leaned her head down close to her daughters and nuzzled her ferociously.

"My little Anna, your Uncle Nicky is a good man. You remember that.", murmured Nastasya as her daughter giggled and waved her hands around again.

Then muttering a quiet prayer in her native language for the safe return of her husband, Nastasya turned to the east and lifted her eyes to the sky again. She wanted to see the fighters as they came back. Untying the yellow ribbon in her hair with one hand, she held by her side and waited. When the dawn patrol returned with the Phantom leading, the spy raised her arm and waved the ribbon with a manic energy. When the pilot of the big fighter flashed his position and landing lights, Nastasya broke down and let the tears fall. Hearing a change in the sound of the engines, she quickly raised her head in alarm only to cry fresh tears as she saw the Phantom roll inverted.

As she gazed up at the upside down airplane, her sharp eyes caught the movement of the pilots' left hand. When the hand moved to the helmet in a two fingered salute, Nastasya's heart filled with an over abundance of love. Her husband was letting her know he'd seen her and was acknowledging it in his usual way. Again waving the ribbon and holding her child up to see her father, the thirty-something woman felt relieved. Her heat began to beat a little slower now that her love was returning safely but it sped up when she remembered what she had planned for her husband that night.

Anastasia Jacqueline Bartlett gazed at her mother curiously as a bright streak of red popped up on her mother's face. Her little mind couldn't figure it out so the two year old yawned in response to her mother's embarrassment.

Back at Sand Island, the arriving fighters came screaming into the break to set up for their final approach. As the first aircraft made its way towards the main runway, former President Vincent Harling watched as its landing gear was extended and the plane touched down with a gentle chirp of its tires. Five minutes after the first fighter landed (Kim Aba's Harrier) the nine remaining aircraft had landed and taxied to their respective revetments except for one.

Blaze Thomas passed the hardstands as he made his way to the refueling pad to hot fuel. Bartlett had passed the word to the younger pilot that he wanted him to land, refuel, and then take off and head for Heierlark. A groundcrew would attach his travel pod to one of the Tigershark's hardpoints.

Bringing his aircraft to a stop in the designated space, Blaze kept his engine running and watched as the fuelers mated the hose to its proper receptacle and proceeded to pump JP-5 back into his tanks. This was all done in complete radio silence to insure that the electricity generated by the communications system wouldn't cause a spark that would blow the plane and everyone in close proximity to it sky high. Once the refueling was done, Blaze taxied his Tigershark out of the revetment and headed for the active runway.

"Sand Castle Tower, Tigershark Zero One Six; requesting permission to take off.",

"Tigershark Zero One Six, you're cleared for take off, destination Ice House. Your estimated time of arrival is 2142 hours local.", came the reply.

"Let's see if I can get there before then. Any requests from Pops or Heartbreak One?"

"Wait one Blaze and I'll find out."

Blaze waited a few minutes at the end of the runway before his headphones crackled with the tower's reply.

"Blaze, Heartbreak One is preoccupied at the moment communicating with Uncle Nicky but stated that he had no requests for you at this time. Pops has a request thought. He'll tell you himself though."

"Copy that, patch him through."

There was a slight rustle as the tech passed the older man his headset. Blaze heard Pops' voice a few seconds later.

"Hey Blaze; I need you to do me a favor. Think you can do it?"

"Pops, this is me of course I can do it.", Blaze answered with a grin

"Good, I need you to exercise that new bird that came in a few months back. You remember the Raven? It's parked in the back of the maintenance shack. The crewdogs and I have been working on it and upgrading all of the systems and performing checks on the new engines I installed. I also did a major upgrade on the Terrain Avoidance Warning System. Think you can check the quality of the work?", answered Pops.

"Sure no problem Pops. Oh yeah. Delta Kilo wants you to know that he got a deal on some 'Varks and he wants me to pick 'em up and bring them back to Ice House. He also wants to know if you can upgrade all eight of them to the same specs as your Raven when you return to Ice House and get the chance."

Pops knew that he was receiving some odd looks and he had no way to explain them. The mechanical grand master appreciated the young pilot for being astute enough to know not to mention his alter ego over an unsecured channel but was curious about how Blaze knew about his purchase and asked.

"You know how Delta Kilo gets restless, grabs a ride, and just goes gallivanting all over the sky? Well he just happened to be in one of his more edgy moods and took up a -33 for a jaunt and he happened to spot your Charlie Deuce on approach to a certain place and took a GPS reading. Later he grabbed a Tornado and jetted back to the location and had a chat with the proprietor. That's how he happened to get the deal on the 'Varks."

Pops grumbled. That idiot was occasionally too smart for his own good. The old pilot was glad that his young protégé was interested in such an old warbird and wanted to fly one of his own. The man formerly known as 'Huckebein the Raven' would have preferred if Blaze had came to him first and asked.

"Blaze, you tell Delta Kilo that I said no prob. He gets the birds up there and I'll get to work on them when I return. However, you also inform your friend that next time he gets a WHUTA about some airplanes and goes behind my back, there'll be hell to pay. You got that?"

"Yeah I got it Pops. I'll pass that message on.", answered Blaze as he tired to hide the relief in his voice.

Pops glanced around the room to see if there were any other requests and spotted Edge standing by the door. Apparently she'd just entered the room. He beckoned her over with a wave and passed her the headset. Edge accepted the piece and placed it on her head. Pops read the request in her eyes and booted everyone outta the communications center. As he was leaving he gave the young woman a fatherly smile. She smiled back in thanks and directed her attention out the window at eh lone fighter sitting at the end of the runway.

"Tigershark Zero One Six, Rhino Zero Zero Seven. You owe me big time for dashing off like this. When return, I'm gonna collect on your rain check with interest. You got that!", Edge barked into the microphone.

"I copy that Zero Zero Seven. When I return I'll be more than willing to repay you for this dashing off, anything else?"

"That's affirmative Zero One Six. Just be careful and return to me.", Nagase requested quietly.

Out on the window she saw her husband flash his wingtip lights in a familiar pattern. She clicked the 'talk' button on her headset in acknowledgement then watched as the Tigershark started to accelerate down the runway as Blaze released his brakes. Fifty feet into the takeoff roll, the rear of the fighter lit up as it's pilot engaged his afterburner.

In the cockpit of his beloved T-Shark, Blaze kept an eye on his airspeed indicator. When it reached around one hundred seventy knots indicated, he pulled back on his stick and slapped his gear handle up. Deciding to perform a private airshow just for his wife, he did a low transition, flying no more than fifty feet off the runway. When he reached the end of the nine thousand foot long combination of coral, reinforced concrete, and asphalt, he yanked the stick into his belly and shoved it over to right.

In the tower and on the ground, those around the base stopped what they were doing and watched the magnificent aircraft easily pirouetted around its lateral axis until it was out of sight. Once the aircraft had disappeared, many shook their heads in awe and amazement at the expert pilot and his truly magnificent mount.

Even the visitors from Area 88 were not immune to the awe that the unassuming man brought out in those around him. Colonel Vashtarl turned to Shin Kazama and shook his head in a gesture of respect.

"Shin, I think that man was born to fly. He has a rapport with any plane he flies and yet I can feel that his connection with that particular aircraft is so strong that together they transcend the limits of man and machine. From just that little display it seems that Blaze Thomas and his Tigershark have melded and become one entity.", the Asranian Prince murmured.

Kazama could only nod in agreement. He agreed with most the prince to the utmost. For some odd reason, Shin Kazama started to fill an excitement starting to bubble up. He couldn't wait to meet Blaze Thomas in the upcoming exercise. But one there was one thing he couldn't fathom and it would bother him far into the evening.

_**"If Blaze is that good, then are the Razgriz even better than him? What about Razgriz Leader, the one known as The King of Demons. Could he be so good that he is unbeatable in the air?", **wondered Shin as he lay in his quarters that night. _

**1100 Hours Sand Island Base, three weeks later. **

It was a slow day at Sand Island Air Force Base. The morning sorties between Wardog and Double Echo had ended and now the pilots were going through an informal debriefing in the pilot's lounge. Swordsman was at the blackboard explaining to his fellow Tomcat pilot about their mock dogfight earlier. Edge and Kitori were in the middle of the room alternately listening to the discussion between Snow and Mickey and discussing their own flight. Much to Nagase's great delight, Kitori had chosen to pilot a Hornet. Shed' flow both the Falcon and the Hornet in back to back flights and announced that the Hornet fit her flying style better than the Falcon did.

Over in the corner, Archer was talking to Shin and Kim about different maneuvers they could pull. Archer was fighting his frustration that the young Harrier pilot had still not learned to VIFF his bird and he was trying to get Kim to understand the advantage it would give him in a dogfight. Listening to the conversation ricocheting around the room as their pilots talked about the thing they all had in common (namely a love for flying) Bartlett and Vashtarl sat around the front desk drinking coffee. They had already finished the debrief from their fight that morning and were just enjoying the camaraderie that was slowly infiltrating the group.

At that moment, the door crashed open and a young communications tech came running breathlessly into the room. The young man looked frightened and his expression was one of sheer terror with something else underlying it. Effectively ending the myriad of conversations around the room as every eye in the place focused on him, the tech tried to speak but couldn't.

"Hey, kid, spit it out. What's got you scared? You look white as a sheet.", growled Bartlett.

Before the young man could answer, Nastasya Bartlett walked in like she owned the place (although the image was ruined by the sleeping two year old child nestled comfortably in her arms).

"Jack, stop barking at the boy. He's just nervous to be reporting to you the news he has.", the former field agent stated in her accented voice.

Jack Bartlett's eyes narrowed as he glared at his wife. Noting his irritation and enjoying it all the more, Nastasya made her way over to the chair beside her husband's desk. Sitting down and arranging herself with a grace that both Nagase and Kitori wished they had, Nastasya ignored her husband until she was comfortable. Once she was she just gave Jack the mysterious smile that Genette had once commented about aboard the _Kestrel_.

By now the spluttering technician had gotten his breath back. Clearing his throat and again gaining everyone's attention, he looked at the three people at the desk before speaking.

"He's on final. The Demon King is on final approach."

The room was quiet for a moment before exploding into pandemonium. The Wardog squadron members glanced at each other before tearing out of the room at full speed. The Area 88'ers looked at each other in wonder before turning their attention to the front of the room at the still seated figure of Colonel Jack Bartlett. Kazama was the first to speak.

"What did he mean: 'The Demon King is here?"

Bartlett sighed and was about to answer when his wife cut him off.

"What the tech means is that it looks like the Razgriz are taking an interest in your plight.", stated Nastasya while stile smiling that mysterious smile of hers.

"What my wife means is that Razgriz Lead wants to meet you.", stated Bartlett as he cast a scowl in his wife's direction.

Nastasya responded by looking innocent and busying herself with her slowly awakening daughter. At that very moment, a sound that the Colonel Vashtarl and his people recognized as jet engines rolled over the building. Since he was closest to the window, Kim opened the blinds and looked out. What he saw astounded him and he couldn't speak for a second. Turning to face his friends, he spoke quietly but with an increasing excitement.

"A plane just landed; an all black plane with a red strip at the top of its vertical stabilizer. On the side of the stabilizer is a shield; a dark grey shield."

"What does the shield say, dammit Kim speak up!", shouted Mickey.

The teenager glared at his blonde friend before answering.

"At the top of the shield it says 'The Ghosts of Razgriz'. Underneath the shield is a number."

"What number is it?", growled Baroness Palvanoff.

"The number under the shield is the number '1'"

There was a second of shock before the lounge again exploded into another flurry of noise and the Area 88 pilots stampeded out onto the flightline. When they got there, the pilot of the mysterious plane had dismounted and was making his way in their direction. As he approached the group, the 88'ers could make out that he was wearing an all black flightsuit and helmet with the tinted face shield down obscuring his features.

Razgriz One halted as he studied the group of five in front of him. Seeing that person Blaze had mentioned to him as being in charge of the group, he took of his helmet. Secure in the fact that his face was still shielded by his black balaclava and his mirror sunglasses; he reached down and unzipped one of the pockets on his midnight black flightsuit. Extracting a black envelope with a red strip across the top, the pilot known as the King of the Razgriz Demons extended the envelope to the prince.

Saki accepted the strange envelope from the strangers' hand. Quickly glancing down at the envelope before returning his gaze to the hooded specter standing in front of him, colonel Vashtarl allowed his sunglasses covered eyes to ask a question. Receiving a short nod as an answer, he opened the envelope. Inside the pocket, was a single sheet of black paper. Elegantly rendered on the tri-folded sheet in grey and red was the Razgriz squadron shield.

Extracting the sheet and opening it, Saki Vashtarl read the four lines written within. Lifting an eyebrow in confusion he looked at the pilot. For the first time since approaching the group, Razgriz Lead spoke. When he did, everyone knew that he was speaking through some sort of device to disguise his voice.

"Grab your flight gear and follow me.", came the mechanical tone of the pilots voice as it was filtered through the voice changed sewn into his balaclava.

Saki nodded and passed the envelope and letter over to Shin Kazama. Shin took the letter and envelope and watched as his commander followed the pilot attired in all black. When they were by the mysterious conveyance that had brought the Razgriz Leader, Shin glanced down at the letter. Printed on the black sheet of paper in red script was a four line message.

"_**Amidst the eternal waves of time,**_

_**From the ripple of change shall the storm rise.**_

_**Out of the abyss peer the eyes of a demon,**_

_**Behold, the Razgriz, its wings of black sheath."**_

Wondering about the meaning of the four lines, he passed the letter to his companions before turning around to face Colonel Bartlett and his wife as they stepped up to him. Handing the letter over to the colonel, he asked what it meant.

"It means, son is that Razgriz Lead is willing to listen to what your commander has to say. Once Colonel Vashtarl makes the request he came here for, Razgriz One will take it back to his wingmen and they will discuss it before making a decision. We won't know the result of that discussion for awhile. When the Ghosts have decided, your colonel will get another message. And when that one arrives, be prepared to head up North.", replied Bartlett.

"Up North, why up North Colonel?", asked Kim Aba.

"Because The Ghosts of Razgriz are based out of Heierlark Base in Nord Osea, Pilot Aba and because they are known as the Ghost of the North Sea. However, invitation to the Lair of The Razgriz is depends on one thing and Razgriz Lead hasn't received that yet."

"What's he waiting on, Colonel Bartlett.", asked Kitori as she watched her betrothed climb into the aircraft assisted by the ground crewmen around the plane.

Bartlett glanced at his wife before answering. Shin caught the glance but chose not to comment on it at the present time.

"Razgriz Lead is waiting on the report from Major Ian 'Blaze' Thomas about your abilities in the air. Then and only then Baroness Palvanoff will we know what their answer is. Be prepared though, they may want to fly against you before they make their final decision. You'll find out from Blaze if you make it up to Heierlark."

"How will we find out?", asked Mickey Simon.

"Oh you'll know the answer to that soon enough."

Over at the aircraft, Saki Vashtarl was allowing the ground personnel to strap him in to the ejection seat. He glared at the plane captain when the young woman tightened his harness to the point where he could barely move.

"Sorry sir, Razgriz One's orders. He wants you to be secure and he wants to make sure you don't inadvertently touch the controls.", state the young woman as she prepared to scamper down the boarding ladder built into the aircraft and close his canopy.

On the other side of the aircraft, away from the eyes of the prince and his pilots, the leader of the Razgriz was quietly conversing with Swordsman, Archer, and Edge.

"There are four other aircraft like this awaiting you at the lair. Blaze has been testing this one for Pops and I 'borrowed' it to make a delivery. Edge, Blaze says he'll be waiting for you at Heierlark."

Edge nodded at the words and turned to face Snow and Grimm. Her eyes bespoke a request which they were all too gracious to provide. Snow wrapped one of his arms around Grimm's neck and pulled the younger pilot around to the other side of the plane and headed back towards the building.

"C'mon youngster, it's obvious that Edge has something she wants to ask the king that she'd rather we not be around to hear. Let's go grab a bite to eat.", came Snow's thundering bass.

Resigned to his wingman's not so gentle pull, Archer let Snow lead him away. Once the two pilots had disappeared around the other side of the aircraft, Edge spoke to the man attired in the dark flight suit.

"I know it's you under that helmet Blaze. I just want you to be careful and don't let your true identity slip to the prince.", she murmured.

"Snow and Grimm knew it as well but they played along with the subterfuge. I was worried that you might let it slip when you first heard me mention myself.", answered Blaze as he switched off his voice changer.

The husband and wife gazed intently at each other knowing that they couldn't let the secret of the Razgriz get out. Blaze replaced his black helmet on his head and took a hold of his wife's hand. Gently rubbing a gloved thumb over her knuckles, he non-verbally passed on the message that he'd be alright. Then releasing his grip on Edge's hand he reactivated his voice changer and started to climb up towards the cockpit. Once situated in his ejection seat, he returned his attention to the woman standing forlornly on the ground. Opening up a storage compartment on his side of the cockpit, he reached in and withdrew a jewelry box.

"Edge, Blaze bought this and asked me to give it to you when I got here. He misses you very much.", came the deep voice through the voice changer.

The pilot gave the box a toss and Edge caught and opened the box. He could see the delight in her eyes as she saw what lay nestled inside. Edge closed the box and stuck it in one of the leg pockets of her flightsuit. The pilot could see the words she mouthed to him as he started the engines of his aircraft.

_**"I love you to, Edge."**, thought Blaze as he activated the intercom. _

Saki Vashtarl was caught off guard when the deep voice of his pilot came over the intercom.

"Tell me your request and we'll talk about it. I'll take notes as needed."

Saki started to protest but decided against it and started to explain his request for help in fighting the new aerial threat facing his mercenaries now that the remnants of the Belkan Grabaecr and Ofnir fighter squadrons and their support personnel have started offensive activities against the Asranian Kingdom, its Royal Family, and their allies. Before he knew it, Saki had told the stranger the entire story about the two different factions vying for control of Asran.

"So, will you help us? Even if its only in advanced training for out pilots and more modern equipment?"

The black attired pilot thought for a moment before giving a non-committal answer.

"I'll pass on the information you've given me to the rest of the Razgriz and we'll discuss the topic and its varying ramifications. You know it's their decision as well as mine if we choose to support you or not."

Saki nodded as he realized that was about all of the answer he was going to get at the present time. Turning his focus inward, the Asranian prince thought about the members of his family still fighting for their lives while he was here trying to solicit help from outsiders. He thought of his cousins on the ground with the army, his eldest brother flying for the official Asranian Air Force, as well as his older sister working in the intelligence decision of headquarters. Yet time and time again Colonel Saki Vashtarl, Heir Quaternary to the Asranian Throne, found his thoughts returning to his father the king and his mother the queen.

_**"How are they holding up? Are they okay and safe in the main palace or have they chosen to move to one of the smaller, better defended palaces out in the far reaches of the country.", ** wondered Saki as he sat lost in thought next to the one man who could turn the fortunes of the Asranian Mercenary Air Force around. _

Before he knew it, Saki realized that the aircraft he was flying in was on final approach to Sand Island. As the island base grew nearer, Vashtarl became aware of a high pitched buzzing sound coming from the man next to him. HE turned his head and was met by an astounding sight.

His pilot was dead asleep and the buzzing sound he'd been hearing was the sound of the man's snores.

_"We're on final approach and you're asleep? What The Hell Is Wrong With You!", _screeched the prince.

Razgriz Lead came awake with a snort and glanced blearily around through his helmet's tinted face shield. Seeing that everything was alright, the pilot wiggled around in his ejection seat before resettling himself comfortably just as the landing gear touched down on the runway with barely a sound.

"Everything's fine. We're back in one piece. Now can you please be quiet. I was up all night last night working on some paperwork that needed to be done. Blaze would have done the paperwork but he was busy teaching a class of fledgling Airedales. Just tell the crew chief to refuel the bird in twenty minutes.", murmured the exhausted pilot before slipping into the welcome arms of Morpheus.

Minutes later, his conveyance came to a stop in the exact same spot it had launched from a few hours earlier. Astoundingly, the engines shut down without any prompting from the dead to the world pilot. When the ground crew unlatched and opened his canopy, Colonel Saki Vashtarl set what he believed was a world record for unstrapping himself and hurriedly dismounting the airplane. Disdaining the help of the ground crewman standing on the accommodation ladder, Saki jumped from the canopy rail to the ground ten feet below. Taking one last look at the still snoozing pilot, he just shook his head and went to find the crew chief. When he did, he started to tell the chief what the pilot wanted but the old veteran just shook his head.

"The autopilot sent us a report on the fuel it would probably need to return to Heierlark when y'all were about seventy miles out. All we had to do was be here when it came in and shut down. That bird right there is one helluva plane. Whomever designed it with that system did a damn good job of making sure this kind of aircraft survived its missions and brought it's pilots back home."

Saki just shook his head in awe. His pilot had been asleep for the last seventy miles of the flight and the autopilot had handled everything! That thought totally boggled his mind. Saki snapped back to the present when he sensed that the refueling was finished. Following the fuel truck as he took of his helmet, Vashtarl cast one look back at the aircraft he'd just ridden. The crewman who'd opened his cockpit canopy had closed and secured it before dropping to the ground and scampering away from the black-painted bird. Seconds after the crewman was safely away from the craft, the engines ignited and spun up to idle speed. Seconds after they'd stabilized at high idle, the brakes released and the aircraft started to taxi out towards the runway.

As the pilot's side of the aircraft came broadside to the prince, Saki lifted an arm in a gesture of farewell but let it drop when he saw that his pilot was still sleep. Watching the bird as it gracefully moved out to the active runway and prepared for take-off, Vashtarl again shook his head and headed towards the waiting crowd by the operations building. Turning back to the runway one last time just as the engines on the plane positioned at the end of the runway ran up to full power with a roar before the afterburners ignited with an ear-splitting blast of sound, heat, and fury as fifty feet of flame and thirty thousand pounds of thrust shot out from the twin exhausts. Too an appreciative crowd the midnight black swing wing aircraft (Saki had just noticed the swing wings as he made his way towards the rest of his mercenaries), ripped down the runway and lifted off. Once airborne, the ten people below saw the wings sweep back to a fast cruise position and disappeared into the sky towards the north.

Taking the last few steps and meeting up with Colonel Bartlett, he shook his head.

"So Colonel, what do you think about the King of the Razgriz?", asked Bartlett.

"Colonel Bartlett, that pilot is good. So damn good he's insane! I hate to imagine what he's like in combat. I'm impressed with him but I'm more impressed with the plane. It flew on its own by itself, no hand at the controls for seventy miles! Then landed, taxied to its hard stand and shut down so it could be refueled. To top that off, once the refueling was finished and everyone was clear, it started it's own engines and taxied out to the runway, where it executed the most perfect lift-off I've ever seen and made its own course corrections to head it in the direction of its home base. All while the pilot was asleep and had been asleep for the past seventy miles! Hell I didn't' even know that Razgriz Lead was asleep till he started snoring while we were on final approach!! Damn, I want one of those. Is it a new kind of fighter?", stated Saki as he slipped out of his g-suit and unzipped the top part of his flightsuit and tied the sleeves around his waist.

To his amazement, the members of Wardog were trying to stifle their laughter while Bartlett had a gleaming twinkle in his eyes.

"Actually colonel, that aircraft is at least ten years older than a 'Cat.", answered Bartlett in a voice full of mirth.

_"Older than a Tomcat, that's dammed impossible! No way, No Fuckin' Way!", _Vashtarl exploded with pent up emotion.

He was about to go on about how the technology of the time could not have possibly come up an aircraft that can fly continue its mission and return home to its exact parking spot if either crewman became incapacitated when Pops cleared his throat.

"Colonel Vashtarl, that aircraft was designed at a time when The Osean Federation and Republic of Belka were at steps away from a full out war that could go nuclear. It was designed by Osea to fly to it's destination, drop it's payload, get out at top speed, and return home even if the pilots were killed during any part of the flight. It was also designed to do this at low-level."

"How low?"

"Hmm, personally, I've flown one at less than two hundred feet off the ground at Mach 2 through a mountain range in Belka.", answered Pops as the incredulous Area 88 pilots looked on in amazement.

"How in the hell did you do that without killing yourself and your co-pilot in the process?", asked the young Harrier pilot.

Pops gave the young man a fatherly grin before answering.

"I had my Terrain Avoidance System set to hard. I didn't have to worry about my co-pilot, he'd already died when a lucky 20mm cannon shell came screaming through the cockpit and blew his head off. To top it off, I had caught some shrapnel from an exploding missile and the aircraft was so badly damaged that all we could do when we landed was scrap it."

The five mercenaries glanced at each other uncomfortably as they imagined screaming along at tree-top level at two times the speed of sound in a damaged aircraft with a dead co-pilot beside them. Pops looked at the pilots and guessed the next question before it was even asked.

"It's called the F-111 Aardvark, Kazama. There is also an electronic warfare version called the EF-111 Raven. It's a damn good plane. Now if you'll excuse me I have some work to do on Edge's Rhino."

The gathered pilots all turned and watched as the older pilot ambled his way towards the repair hanger. Edge spoke so quietly that her words were almost missed.

"That man, the more I know him. The more I want to learn about him. I admire that about him."

Snow, Bartlett, and Grimm all nodded in agreement. Bartlett turned to the five pilots standing with his people.

"You've just met the heart and soul of the Ghosts of Razgriz. Zero-Zero Section, what do you think?"

**_And with that question, the Knightewolfe brings to a close Chapter Two of 'The Return of the Razgriz'. To all my readers it looks as if I did it again and got carried away with the length of this chapter, for that I apologize most wholeheartedly and will try (operative word there is 'try) and reduce the length of the next chapter. Hopefully the length of this chapter doesn't discourage readers from enjoying this story. I'm enjoying writing it!_**

**_Okay, for those aviation buffs who're curious about some of the planes mentioned: Yes there is actually a fighter called the F-20 Tigershark. In fact there is only one left in the world and it's at a museum somewhere in California. The X-29, like the F-20 is a variation of the venerable F-5A and F-5E except the X-29 has a reverse swept wing. I think (but I'm not sure) that NASA has a pair of X-29's flying somewhere, I don't know. Maybe somebody can do some research on that and find out. _**

**_Now for those of you who are wondering about my favorite fighter. I'm a big fan of the now-retired Grumman F-14 Tomcat. I wish it were still flying. Oh well. I'm also a fan of the RA-5C Vigilante (those of you who've read 'Sylvia's Solitary Soldier' probably figured that out when Chapter 3 was posted). Other fighters that I love are the F-8E Crusader and the F-20 Tigershark. _**

_**To all those who are still reading this story despite the lengthy chapters, I thank you very much and I appreciate your interest. It's readers like you that keep me writing. As long as there are readers, there will be writers. **_

**_Updates on my other stories:_**

'_**Sylvia's Solitary Soldier' Chapter 5 is coming along pretty well even though I've been basically working on this story for the past few week. .'S.S.S.' Chapter 4 is finished and will be posted soon. **_

'_**Agents and Operatives' Chapter 2 for you 'Totally Spies' fans is rapidly nearing completion and should be posted within the coming weeks. I got to finish the chapter and do some scene editing before it's ready for you wonderful readers. **_

'_**Kim Possible: the Taking of Shego' chapter one, is still being worked on. However since I later plan a KPxTS crossover once 'Totally Spies: Agents and Operatives' and 'KP: TToS' are further along, I have to develop the storyline a bit and find a way to introduce the unstoppable Ron Stoppable to the Foxfire Trio. Quick question, what kind of car do you think I should have Ron drive later on I the story? I'd leaning towards a Subaru WRX but I'm also thinking about a Mazda Protégé MP3 among others. Let me know what you think and I'll choose from your submissions. **_

'**_Robotech: Child of Khyron' is still being working on when I get the time. I've worked my way into a tricky plot hole I'm trying to work my way out of. When I get that little problem worked out, I'm gonna ask (actually beg) a pre-reader to do a little embellishing of the relationship between Dana and Kieran in her own special way. She's extraordinarily good at that. I just got to get some of my previous chapter to her so she can get caught up again. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about my flagship story. _**

'**_Setsuna's Sun Prince' is back on track after the little mishap where I lost some of what I'd already written due to some unexplained computer glitch. Oh well C'est la vie, stuff happens. I'll just cut what had been originally added to Chapter 8 and rewrite the end so I can go ahead and get Chapter 9 flowing smoothly. I'm waaay behind on that one as it is. One thing I can spill about 'SSP Chap. 9' right now is that in that Chap, Taki will be singing. Stay tuned for parts of that make appearances in my updates._**

**_My Captain Tyler, WCP, and NGE stories are temporarily on the back burner. I gotta go back and reread some of my previous stuff for Tyler, WCP, and NGE but soon they'll start being updated. Keep an eye out. You never know, I might sneak one up on ya'll. J _**

'**_A Day in the Life of the Sun King' is proceeding smoothly. No major problems and just some inconsequential things I can change as I go along. I'm trying to get all of the main scouts introduced and I'm still debating whether or not the Sailor Stars will make an appearance. (As it is they might make just a cameo since I haven't seen the complete Sailor Moon Sailor Stars episodes). _**

_**That's all for now and I hope to be updating again soon. Y'all keep on reading and enjoying and I'll keep on writing and enjoying. Reviews are welcome but not necessary. Flames get tossed in the circular file. **_

_**The Knightewolfe is off and running. **_

_**Knightewolfe's Lair**_

_**2/07**_


	3. Transfer to Heierlark Base Training In

Here it is, the third chapter of my Area 88/Ace Combat 5

_The Unsung War_ crossover. To those who've sent emails

reviews demanding that I keep working on this story,

this chapter's for you!

Y'all demanded that I bring it on back. Well here ya go,

enjoy the story, youse mugs !

**Disclaimer: TV Asashi owns Area 88 **

**while Ace Combat 5 is owned by Namco. **

_**Area 88**_

_**Return of the Razgriz**_

_**Chapter 3: **_

_**Transfer to Heierlark Base. Training Intensifies!**_

**Heierlark Air Base. 1125 Hours.**

Major Blaze Thomas, Osean Air Defense Force Reserve was bored. It was lunch and he was sitting in the base messhall watching the young pilots he was in charge of training as they ate lunch, joked around with their friends, studied for exams, reviewed aircraft manuals, or sat and stared out the windows at the swirling snow outside. He'd been here for the past few weeks training newbies in advanced flying techniques. In addition to those classes, Blaze was also schooling the young hot dogs in basic, advanced, and doctorate level dogfighting skills. There had been many a day when one of the many young aspiring airedales wanting to be the first to beat their top instructor were humbled in mock dogfights against the multi-ace.

Glancing around the warm room echoing with the laughter and good cheer of young adults who thought they were invincible in the air, Blaze saw through jaded eyes, memories of himself and his wingmen fellowshipping the same way back in his days as a nugget trainee. Unlike these nuggets, the twenty-seven year old pilot had already been awarded his callsign. Sighing to himself and bringing his attention back to the conversation of the other instructors at his table (a table reserved exclusively for senior instructors, one of three such tables in the entire messhall. The junior instructors sat at a table near the back of the room while he and the rest of the Razgriz sat at the reserved black marble table engraved with the Razgriz emblem in the absolute center of the room. No one was allowed in the messhall whenever the Razgriz ate except the combat veteran senior instructors). Blaze poked at his triple bacon cheeseburger and seasoned curly cheese fries. Usually he ate with gusto and sometimes went back for seconds and thirds. This time, Blaze wasn't that hungry.

Bringing his attention back to the young pilots going in and out of the hall, Blaze spotted one of the trainees he'd been keeping a very close eye on. Airman 1st Class Alina H. Davenport had just entered the messhall with three of her classmates. Observing the five foot eleven inch brown haired woman, Blaze could see that she was nearly the spitting image of her father. Her voice even sounded like his deceased wingman's voice, even though it was more of a low and melodic alto than Chopper's loud and obnoxious tenor. Blaze kept watching as Davenport and her friends: Airman 1st Class Kimberly Carson, Second Lieutenant Nicolette Waters, and Airman 1st Class Cindy Decker, made their way to the buffet line, grabbed plates, and started filling them up with mountains of food, Blaze wondered how they were as pilots. Turning to his fellow instructors, he asked.

"Well, that Davenport is a natural flyer; however, she just won't shut up over the radio. Carson and Waters are okay and just need a little bit of extra training to improve their skills. On the other hand, Decker isn't that good. She does well in some facets of her training but needs plenty of help in others. Along with Ostenhaus, Sterling, Fredericks, and Sanderson those four are some of the best female aviators we've come across in a long time. None of them will be as good as Edge of course but they'll come close.", answered Sundowner, an instructor and Vigilante recon plane backseater with the Osean Naval Air Forces.

"Yeah Blaze, those ladies are continuously in the top twenty cadets here. None of the other female cadets come anywhere near their skills.", added Rumrunner as he took a gulp from his soda.

"I see, interesting. Which, if any, of those eight cadets do you recommend I take under my wing?", asked Blaze as he took a bite from his burger.

The instructors conversed for a minute before coming up with their answers. Captain Ben 'Stormy' Weathers spoke for the other instructors.

"Well, we all agree that Davenport would be our first choice. But since we know that you only take maybe four or five cadets out of all the ones on base as your personal students, we believe that Carson, Ostenhaus, and Sterling would best be served by learning from your hand directly in addition to Davenport. I also know that whatever they learned from you they would pass on to the other four. Why do you ask, Blaze? Are you thinkin' about being their instructor?"

Blaze thought for a moment before answering.

"Davenport yeah, the others I don't know about. I flew with Davenport's old man Chopper and the way she carries herself reminds me of the bum."

The chatter between the instructors died down a bit as they remembered before restarting on a different topic. Blaze appreciated the gesture of respect from his peers and went back to his lunch. He'd think of a way to help Davenport and her friends as he observed them chow down on their meals.

Suddenly, Blaze felt like dancing with the sky that afternoon. Calling over a parka clad ground crewman, he questioned the man about the status of the Su-33 Super Flanker he'd seen the repair crews futzing around with on his way to the messhall. Getting a positive report, he told the man to inform the crew working on the bird to get it prepped for a flight after lunch. The tech nodded and hustled out of the room with his purchase. Feeling his hunger return at the prospect of getting some flight time, Blaze wolfed down the remainder of his meal.

**Same Time. Sand Island. Hanger Twelve**

Kitori Palvanoff was in a world of extreme ecstasy. Her instructor had allowed the baroness to fly her Super Hornet for the first time. _And she'd loved it!_

For the past few weeks, Kitori had been flying the aircraft chosen by her hosts to get a feel for one to have as a replacement her beloved Mirage F-1. Palvanoff had loved the nimble Fighting Falcon and its F-16N Viper derivative but something about it had left her unfulfilled. Being able to pull a 9G turn appealed to her but the twenty-five degree recline of the ejection seat and the side stick were hard for her to get used to. The tall, long-haired Asranian Baroness had even flown the F-16C block 60 Falcon, the imported F-2, and the F-16XL with its 'cranked arrow' delta wing and could only get mildly excited at the most.

The Mirage 2000 had been a dream to fly and was the closest to her old F-1 so there wasn't as much prep time for her to climb right in and fly. The F-15 Eagle had just been too damn big and she couldn't get the hang of handling the oversized bird. For the Eagle's size it was very nimble and the sensation of breaking Mach 1 in a straight vertical climb had been thrilling, but the rest of the Eagle's assets had left her numb.

Kitori had asked Edge to let her try the Tigershark but in an uncharacteristic vehemence, the shorter woman had flat out refused. Nagase had told Kitori there was no way she could handle the -20. It was too hot a bird for her to handle. Of course Kitori had gotten pissed and wanted to prove to the major that she could when Nagase had handed her an autographed photo of their duel in the trainers. That reminder had cooled Kitori's anger down a bit. It was shortly after that when Kitori inadvertently first placed her hand on the side of Nagase's Super Hornet to keep her from stumbling over something in the hanger.

The minute her hand touched the side of the grey airplane, some sort of electricity shot through Kitori and she unconsciously found herself longing to fly the deadly little aircraft. Later that same day, Kitori had come up to Nagase and had demurely asked if she could fly the Rhino. Edge had refused but allowed her to take one of the regular -18's up for an introductory flight. Disappointed but hoping to impress her instructor enough that she may allow her to take the Rhino up, Kitori had climbed into the cockpit of the Hornet and settled into its Martin-Baker ejection seat. As soon as she'd strapped in and closed the canopy, something started to come over her. Receiving clearance from the tower, she'd taxied out to the runway and launched for her introductory flight.

Kitori hadn't even been in the air ten minutes when she felt the hole that had been in her heart when her F-1 had been destroyed was filled. The baroness felt like a little girl again. Her time flying this aircraft reminded her of the times she'd taken her Mirage up just to feel the freedom of flying. It was with a great reluctance when Palvanoff had to return the plane to the ground and taxi back to the hanger. When she'd climbed out of the aircraft and saw Nagase standing with her arms akimbo and a mysteriously knowing smile on her face and a wicked gleam in her eyes, Kitori had walked over to see what the younger woman was going to say. The only things spoken by her sister multi-ace were seven words.

"Welcome to the Hornet Mafia, Baroness Palvanoff."

Confused, Kitori watched as Edge stepped up and extended her hand. Kitori accepted it, then watched as the other woman strode away with a light step. It was only when Nagase had vanished from view that the taller woman felt a piece of fabric in her hand. Looking down she saw that Nagase had subtly slipped a Velcro patch into her hand. Turning it over, Kitori saw the image and read the words.

The image was of a cartoonish hornet wearing a fedora, sunglasses, and a trenchcoat while smoking a cigar and carrying a smoking Tommy gun in its hands superimposed over a front view of its namesake fighter loaded for bear. The words embroidered around the edge of the patch in red thread on the white patch's yellow border said: 'F/A-18 Hornet' at the top and 'Hornet Mafia' at the bottom. From that point on, Baroness Kitori Palvanoff felt as if she and Kei Nagase were long sundered sisters of the air.

In the ensuing weeks after her choice of aircraft, Kitori had found herself coming under an increasingly demanding workload and more stress than ever before. Nagase quizzed her every chance she got and there wasn't a day that went by that saw the baroness not flying but in a classroom either enduring another lecture or facing another exam. Nagase had turned into the strictest (and bitchiest) instructor Palvanoff had ever had. The younger woman made some of Kitori's previous instructors look like incompetent preschool teachers. There were times when Palvanoff wanted to rip her hair out and scream in frustration. There were also times she contemplated getting rid of Nagase but those thoughts always disappeared when Nagase praised her on her expanding abilities and offered up one of her rare smiles. Those mental musings vanished completely during the few times she was aloft in the Hornet honing her skills. All of those trials and tribulations had come to a head in the mock dogfight that had taken place the day before yesterday.

For the first time in all of their exercises, Nagase had piloted the Super Hornet. In all of their other training, Kitori's instructor had either flown a regular Hornet, or a different aircraft. The dissimilar air combat training (DACT) had helped Palvanoff develop better intuition and situational awareness in the air combat arena. Kitori became a better pilot because of it and the feeling felt great. Palvanoff felt invincible in the air. That dream came crashing down in flames when Kei Nagase had flown her F/A-18E Super Hornet and utterly demolished Palvanoff's new found confidence in her skills, her training, and her aircraft.

That day, watching Edge had been like watching much sped up replay of their duel in the Hawks. However instead of five flights, Edge had verily and ruthlessly cleaned her clock three times in forty-five minutes. Upon landing after the class, Kitori had climbed out of her fighter and made her way over to where Edge stood by her aircrafts' side talking to one of the fuelers about refueling her fighter. Kitori had been depressed about her performance and expected to be chewed out. Imagine her surprise when Edge tapped her on the shoulder and pointed at her plane.

"This aircraft needs another check flight and I can't take it up. I have a phone call holding for me in the hanger office. Can you take her up for me instead? Just take her up and touch the sky. Jot down anything you need changed and we'll talk when you get back.", commented Edge as she turned towards the hanger.

"But… but….. but…. Why me?", stammered Kitori.

"You're the only pilot not flying or sleeping right now. Just remember one thing?"

"What's that?"

"You damage my fighter and I'll kick your ass. Now get goin'."

Reeling from the words she'd just heard. Kitori jammed her helmet on her head and scrambled up the boarding ladder as if she was a small child. Climbing into the cozy cockpit, Kitori saw that while she had been moping about her performance, Edge had had the ground crew lower the ejection seat so Kitori could sit comfortably. Strapping in and closing the canopy, Kitori had radioed the tower-who, she suspected, had been in on the deal-and gotten immediate permission to taxi and take-off.

That had been four hours ago and Kitori had enjoyed every bit of piloting Edge's fighter. To her, the Super Hornet exceeded the flight envelope of every aircraft she'd ever flown. It was nimbler, faster, and easier to control. Everything she'd loved about her Mirage F-1 was intensified in this twin-engined aircraft. To top off her excitement, Kitori was flying Major Nagase's personal aircraft so everything she'd already liked about the Hornet was exponentially enhanced in this one plane and she fell further and further in love with it. Midway through her exhilarating flight, Kitori had glanced out her cockpit and saw that somehow several other Hornets and Super Hornets had joined on her wings and were mirroring every move she made. Palvanoff yelled in excitement and led the fifteen-strong formation through every maneuver she knew. They stayed glued to her wings as if they were one plane.

Finally low on fuel and getting tired, Kitori headed for home. As she watched her fourteen wingmen break off in pairs and return to wherever they had came from, the leader of the bunch slipped closer to her wing and flipped up his visor. When she was close enough to see his face clearly, he called her on the radio.

"The Hornet Mafia welcomes its newest sister. You take it easy now."

Kitori had nodded and given her wingman a thumbs up. He returned it and saluted her before breaking away, kicking in his burners and heading back to where he'd came from.

Now back on the ground and taxiing back to her parking spot, Kitori opened the canopy and let her oxygen mask drop to her chest. Flipping up her visor and using minimal power, she followed the directions of the linesmen until they brought her to a stop next to an aircraft covered in a tarp. Shutting down the engines and going over her post flight checks (Edge had verbally beat those into her during her accelerated Hornet ground school), Palvanoff climbed out of Nagase's fighter and headed for the hanger. She stopped when she saw her Area 88 wingman and her betrothed standing with the Bartlett Colonels next to the heavy tarpaulin. Wondering what was going on, she changed direction and made her way towards her friends. The closer she got to the group and the covered object, the more she wondered. Two steps from the gathering of pilots, a whistle blew and the tarp fell away to reveal a brand new F/A-18E Super Hornet with a familiar marking on the vertical stabilizer.

Dropping her helmet to the ground, Kitori stared slack-jawed at her chosen insignia; a bow with three arrows notched. Whirling around to face the others, Kitori noticed that Nagase was standing there with the group. She saw that Nagase was holding a bottle in her hands along with something else. As she stared, Edge spoke.

"Well are you gonna stand there gawking all day or are ya gonna christen it?"

"Huh? Whaddya mean?"

"It's the replacement for your F-1 and it needs a name. Only the pilot assigned to this aircraft can give the aircraft its name. You're its assigned pilot. Whatcha gonna call 'er?"

Kitori thought for a moment before coming up with the perfect name. Telling the gathered pilots she took the bottle of champagne from Edge, popped the top, and vigorously sprayed the foaming liquid over the nose of the Rhino.

"I christen thee _'Desert Vixen'_!", stated Kitori firmly and with a smile on her face.

Those gathered around exploded into applause and cheers for the newly named fighter. Accepting the congratulations from Shin, and the rest of her Area 88 compatriots as well as those from Wardog, Kitori reveled in the adulation. She listened as Major Snow commented to Major Grimm.

"Pay up Grimm. I knew she was gonna choose the Hornet. Baroness Palvanoff's a tailhooker at heart!",

"Aww man, I was sure she was gonna pick the Eagle. Damn that bites!", returned Grim good-naturedly and with a smile on his face.

"Don't worry about it, Grimm. Somewhere out there's somebody who's a fan of the Eagle.", commented Edge who was standing next to the six-four muscular black Tomcat pilot.

Kitori nodded in agreement and gave Archer a smile. Wrapping an arm around the young pilot, she kissed his forehead and gave him a sisterly hug. When she stepped back the group laughed at the goofy, yet smug look on Grimm's face.

"Well Snow, it looks as if I don't owe you anything now!"

More laughter followed as the Eternal Swordsman had the grace to look suitably forlorn. Kitori backed away from the raucous crowd as Mickey tried to wrap up Snow in a friendly headlock. His six foot two inches and two hundred and twenty-five pounds was no match for the Super Tomcat pilot who was two inches taller and fifteen pounds heavier. It turned into a brotherly dog pile on the big pilot as even Kim Aba joined the raucous tussling.

Gazing back at her aircraft, Kitori felt a light weight on her shoulder and turned to find Edge handing her the other item she'd been holding. Kitori's eyebrow lifted as she realized what it was.

"I heard from the prince that you fly and fight wearing this. Don't you think it would be appropriate to put some on now?", asked Edge as she handed Kitori the little bullet shaped container.

Taking the item in one gloved hand, Kitori placed her other hand on the bottom of the object and twisted. A vibrant red column of lipstick easily rotated to the top. Glancing at the shorter pilot and seeing her nod, Kitori applied her trademark color to her lips. Looking into the mirror that Nastasya Bartlett (who'd joined the two women beside the plane) held up, Kitori felt rejuvenated and reborn as both a woman and as a fighter pilot.

"It's been so long since I last wore any lipstick that I've forgotten how it feels.", the baroness stated quietly.

On a whim, Kitori walked up to her new fighter and pressed her brightly painted lips against the cool metal. As she backed away, Nagase and Nastasya examined the red lipstick smudges that remained with critical eyes and nodded in approval. They liked the personal touch that Kitori had made. It suited the brash and loud, yet sophisticated aerial killer to perfection. The three women shared a glance before turning their attention to the group of guys on the tarmac. Somehow Colonel Vashtarl had been enticed to join in the friendly mugging. As it was, he and Jack Bartlett were the two guys on the top of the pile.

"No matter how old they get, men are just young boys at heart, right?", commented Nastasya Bartlett in her lightly accented voice.

"And that little boy personality that shows up every so often is why we love them so much, isn't it?", continued Nastasya softly as she turned her attention to her companions.

Both Palvanoff and Nagase nodded. They agreed most whole heartedly with what the older woman said. Sharing knowing grins, the trio of women left the guys and headed for the messhall. It was time for there own congratulatory celebration; one where no men were allowed.

**Three Days later, 1345 Hours. Sand Island Base. **

Major Marcus 'Swordsman' Snow was frustrated. For the umpteenth time since their training of the Area 88 bunch had commenced training, he'd fought against Kim Aba.

And for the umpteenth time, the teenage pilot hadn't been able to get any advantage on the Tomcat driver.

"_Gawddammit! _He's still doesn't get what we're trying to teach his young ass!", roared Snow as he slung his helmet the length of the locker room.

"Give it a rest Snow! The kid's young and this is some of the most intense training he's had other than the O-J-T he's received up to this point. Maybe he's never had anyone describe VIFF'ing to him.", commented Archer as he reclined on the bench wearing nothing but a pair of shorts and a towel.

Marcus glared at his old wingman with the glare that had frozen many an aircrew when he was a squadron leader and deputy air group commander aboard the old _Kestrel._ Seeing that the glare had no effect on the Archer, Snow sighed and started to slide out of his G-suit. Once the chaps-like garment that wrapped around his lower body had been discarded and lay at a pile at his feet, Snow plopped down on the bench and untied the laces on his size fifteen flight boots and set them aside. Undoing the zippers and climbing out of his sweaty fireproof green Nomex flight suit he opened his locker and grabbed a towel off the top shelf of his locker.

Hans 'Archer' Grimm glanced at his old friend as he sat in front of his locker with his head down and wearing a black t-shirt with the Tomcat patch on the front, a pair of boxer shorts, and a pair of green socks. Sitting up and rotating to face his locker, the cherubic face of the young pilot reached in and grabbed his own t-shirt and a pair of sweatpants.

"How'd you do today? What's it like flying against the prince and Kazama?", asked Snow from his spot in front of his locker.

"Hell, what isn't it like? They're good, damn good. That colonel is a dammed surgeon in the air and that Jaguar is his scalpel. The first times I flew against him I was able to work him over pretty good, but lately he's been carving me up like a dammed Christmas turkey. Shit, I'm lucky to even win one match against him now. Man, I don't even wanna talk about facing Kazama. In the weeks since he's been here I have only beaten him once. Kazama reminds me too much of Blaze before his Razgriz transformation."

Before Snow could comment, Edge ran around the corner with an ecstatic expression on her face.

"Blaze just called! Bartlett is video conferencing with him as we speak. If you wanna get the chance to talk to him then the two of you need to hurry up!! Umm, pardon me for asking but what's wrong guys?"

It was obvious to Archer and Swordsman that Edge didn't realize that she was wearing only a pair of panties and a t-shirt. Even sitting a good ten feet away the two men could tell that their number two wasn't wearing her bra. Snow was the first to speak.

"Umm Kei? Dontcha think you need to cover yourself up? I can't speak for our young friend here but what you have on now is kind of distracting."

Nagase looked down at her present attire (or to be more precise, her present lack of attire) and realized that she was giving the other two pilots a peek at which she only showed her husband and then only in the privacy of their own bedroom back home.

"_Shit!!_ Oops sorry guys.", exclaimed Edge as she dashed behind the nearest locker and stuck her head around the corner.

Snow shook his head and grinned. It wasn't like he hadn't seen it before. Aboard the carrier, only the flight crew locker rooms (unlike those in their own quarters) were co-ed and accessed through the squadron ready rooms. In his career, Snow had seen a lot of skin in those locker rooms and it didn't faze him. In fact none of the female carrier pilots he'd known had been fazed by the fact that during flight ops it wasn't unusual for a male pilot to inadvertently walk in to the locker room while they were getting changed. In fact one female Tomcat pilot he had known had taken a perverse pride in the fact that every time Swordsman himself was changing she'd casually walk into the locker room and catch him in flagrante delicto. It had taken him two cruises to realize that Lieutenant 'Sunshine' Hill had had a wicked crush on-the then lieutenant commander-Snow.

Marcus sighed as he remembered Hill. She and her radar intercept officer (RIO) had gotten zapped while stooging around at angels 25 (25,000 feet of altitude) trying to catch a Yuke sneaky Pete in a recon-equipped Tornado scud running through some clouds trying to snoop on the OADF as they prepared for Operation Desert Lightning. In addition to his camera pod, the bastard had a pair of Sidewinders on his wings and had popped one of them at Sunshine as she'd inadvertently turned her exhaust in his direction. The heatseeking missile had hit Sunshine's 'Cat in its number two engine and started a fire. Before she could either activate the fire bottle or punch herself and her RIO out, the fully armed bird had exploded. Two minutes later, Snow had sent the sanctimonious prick to hell when he nailed him with a Phoenix from eighty miles away. The unlucky sonuvabitch never knew what hit him when the big hypersonic fire-and-forget radar guided missile had blotted him out of the sky. All that was left of the transgressor were pieces no bigger than the name patch on Snows' flightsuit.

The big pilot acknowledged the nearly naked Nagase and told her he'd be up there to chat with Blaze in a few minutes. The extremely attractive female pilot nodded once with flaming cheeks and ducked back behind the row of lockers in her embarrassment. Archer and Swordsman didn't so much as exchange a look when a loud _"damn"_ echoed around the locker room accompanied by the sound of flesh hitting metal in exasperation. Shortly after that, Hans Grimm exited the changing area in a pair of sweats from his alma mater and a tank top. Archer was going to say a few words to Blaze before hitting the gym and working out a bit. Snow bid him farewell then went about his own business of changing into his own exercise clothes (a pair of_ Kestrel_ sweat pants and t-shirt that said 'DCAG' on it given to him by the members of his squadron before the war).

As he finished changing, Snow saw Edge-now fully clothed in a fresh flight suit (she had a flight against Simon planned for later)-go dashing out of the locker room at a full sprint. Marcus took a second to admire her form as she darted past. When she ran, Nagase was as swift as a gazelle, a trait that had helped her out tremendously after she was shot down according to Blaze. Paired with a woman's natural tendency to be sneaky and duplicitous, Edge's speed had given her the advantage when the Sea Goblin rotorheads had found her and their missing gunship crew after they'd crashed trying to save her after they'd pulled off a daring POW rescue in the mountains.

When Blaze had told him that Edge had captured the enemy platoon out hunting for her and the wounded gunship crew with nothing but her .40 caliber sidearm, he didn't believe it. When Blaze told him that the only wound his wife had was a crease caused by a near miss from a Yuke assault rifle, Snow was even more astounded. Weeks after he joined up with Archer, Blaze, and Edge after Chopper's death, Snow often would think about the scar on Edge's upper left arm he'd seen while they were aboard the carrier. It was one of the extremely rare times Edge had slid her arms out of her flightsuit and tied the flightsuit arms around her waist out of habit and he'd seen the white of scar tissue just beneath the sleeve of the squadron tee shirt she wore under her flightsuit to keep the Nomex from chafing her fair skin.

Shaking the memory away with a quick left-right movement of his head, Snow prepared to close his locker. Glancing at the large object sitting on top of its case as he closed the metal door, Snow wondered if he'd ever get the chance to wear it under his arm again. Putting it out of his mind for now; Major Marcus Snow, 'The Eternal Swordsman' walked out of the locker room with his head held high and headed in the direction of the communications shack to see what his flight lead had to say.

Fifteen minutes later there was a small crowd in the communications shack as Snow, Grimm, Nagase, and the Bartlett colonels squeezed closer together in front of the wall-sized monitor where the image of Blaze Thomas peered out on the crowd of friends. Marcus got concerned as he saw that Blaze was dressed like he was about to go out on a combat mission. Blaze saw the look in Snow's eyes and nodded.

"Hey Snow. The Penguin assigned me a recon sortie in a combat area. Perrault wants two TARPS equipped T-cats' and a pair of Viggies to take a look at the situation in Asran. It seems that somebody's been shadowing the fighters of Air Wing Twenty-One aboard the OFS _Egret_ as they performed their routine duties and stayed out of the contested airspace. CAG 21 and his pilots are worried that whoever's doing the shadowing plans to hit our aircraft sometime in the near future. I just happened to be in operations when the order came down and I rounded up some crews. I got a couple of the trainees flying Typhoons as wingmen. I had planned to take up a Typhoon myself, however, we just got a new freelance RAN and none of the pilots want to fly with him. Genette personally vouched for the guy and still no one wanted the freelancer in their pit. So I get to fly a Viggie with an FNG on a possible combat sortie so you know how I feel.", commented Blaze as he adjusted the sidearm under his left shoulder.

F.N.G. – figure it out. It ain't a compliment!

"Blaze you be damn careful out there. You know the Viggie's unarmed and it's only advantages are its speed and its altitude ceiling. Use those to your advantage and make sure that the other Viggie crew does the same. Who's pushing the other -5C?", asked Marcus as he pinched the bridge of his nose and wracked his brain trying to remember the name of the air wing twenty-one commander.

"Hehehe, Snow you don't have to worry about that. I made sure I got Scarface and Sundown in the other Vigilante. In the Viggie community they're acknowledged as the best of the best. I also have Wildman and Photodawg on standby along with Ghost and Gryffen. But enough about me and the things I gotta deal with how's the training going?"

Edge gave the others a quick glance before answering that everything was fine. Blaze, having seen the look his wife cast the others in the room, didn't buy it and waited for the truth to come out. Snow sighed and went ahead and detailed the problem.

"It's the kid. He's not advancing as fast as we'd hoped he would. I mean, Aba _**is**_ a good stick and that means a lot since he's pushing a capable VTOL aircraft like the Harrier. It's just that he's not learning that well and he's not taking full advantage of what that aircraft can do. Now I see why Kitori doesn't particularly like to fly as his wingman although she says he _**is**_ a very capable pilot.", stated Snow resignedly.

Blaze thought for a moment before asking Nastasya Bartlett a question. She looked taken aback at his request and answered in the positive but then she asked a question of her own.

"Why do you ask about Yuri Smolenski? That crazy bastard has crashed more airplanes than anyone has ever flown! It's no wonder they call him the 'Mad Dog' of the air. I do not see what you want with him.", snarled Nastasya.

"Yeah, Yuri is nuts but no one here can deny that he's the best Harrier pilot in either the Yuktobanian or Osean Air Forces. That 'crazy bastard' as you call him can make a Harrier do tricks that it wasn't even designed to do. We need him to kick Aba in the ass and get him to flying his plane to its fullest extent. And to do that, we're going to have to be a bit severe with him. Problem is, I don't know how Colonel Vashtarl will take it. Jack, can you get the prince to come to the communications shack, I need to speak with him."

"Yeah sure, Kid. I can do that but what's your plan?", asked Colonel Bartlett.

Blaze started to explain and by the time he finished, everyone in the entire room had turned a shade of white so pale that it looked as if they were dead. What Blaze was postulating could probably backfire on them. What's more, it would put Kim Aba in a life or death situation. In the end, the all agreed since it was for Aba's sake they did this.

**Several Days Later. Sand Island Air Force Base 1230 Hours. **

Mickey Simon was in heaven. Here he was piloting his Tomcat against the woman known as Edge and he was doing pretty well against her. Things had been hostile between the two groups the last few days because of some actions taken against Kim Aba that he considered high handed. It was like they'd singled the teenager out for some reason and that wasn't fair in his book.

When it happened, it caught the Area 88'ers by surprise and caused a lot of worry. Simon remembered the day when he'd confronted Major Snow about it and the major had simply picked him up by his neck, slammed him into the nearest wall, leaned in close, and growled that Simon needed to mind his own damn business.

It had all started when that asshole Blaze Thomas had arrived at Sand Island after a long photo-recon mission he'd been assigned. His aircraft had taken some shrapnel from a SAM near miss. Blaze had flown the damaged aircraft several thousand miles to Sand Island, performing aerial refueling when he needed extra gas, until he landed. Everyone had gathered around the plane as it sat on the flight line and waited for Blaze and his backseater to climb out of the aircraft. The pilots had not been allowed anywhere near the plane until the photo specialists had unloaded the camera pod and wheeled it away to develop the film.

Once that had been done, an exhausted Blaze had climbed out of the aircraft and nearly fell into the waiting arms of Major Snow and Colonel Bartlett. Major Grimm and Mickey had been assigned the task of helping the backseater unstrap and egress the airplane. The helmeted figure had started to offer his thanks but had clammed up when he caught a glimpse of Mickey. It didn't dawn on the Tomcat pilot who the backseat photo systems operator had been until he'd doffed his helmet and familiar brown hair spilled out around his face. When he recognized the backseater as the freelance photographer Shinjou Makoto, Simon felt his ire burst and he swung a fist at the man he considered a traitor. Mickey's fist fell short of Shinjou's face as Blaze exhibited a surprising strength and stopped the taller pilot's fist from making contact with the traitors' face.

Colonel Bartlett had demanded to know what was wrong with Simon when the prince stepped up and pointed a pistol at the face of the photographer. Thomas had then unlimbered his pistol and pointed it at Saki and ordered him to lower his own weapon so things could be organized. For a few seconds it seemed that the reserve major was indeed going to kill the prince until Saki had lowered his pistol and stalked off.

Hours later, Simon was flying Kim Aba's wing in a mock dogfight against Major Grimm when the trio found themselves locked up by an unknown aerial radar system. The three pilots had split up but the unknown radar had stayed glued to Kim's' Harrier. Kim couldn't shake his pursuer and was running low on fuel when he made a call to the base asking permission to land. Simon remembered the conversation as if it happened yesterday.

_Flashback_

_"Sand Island, this is Kim Aba requesting permission to land and refuel."_

_"Request denied Flight Lieutenant Aba. You are prohibited from landing. Take a heading of two-one-five and follow the aircraft at your six o'clock. If you do not, you will be fired upon.", came the voice of the air traffic controller. _

_There was absolute silence on the channel before it exploded into a maelstrom of comments, mostly the rest of the Area 88 contingent that was flying at the time. Conspicuously absent, although Mickey didn't realize it at the time, was the voice of Commander Saki. _

_"Sand Island Base, what the hell is going on? How come Kim can't land, for Christ's sake, he's low on fuel. If he doesn't land and refuel now, he will die! Are you just going to sit there and let him be killed?", roared Kitori over the radio net. _

_"You are out of line Flight Captain Palvanoff! Clear this channel at once! Flight Lieutenant Aba, I reiterate, you are prohibited from landing at Sand Island. If you do not follow the directions already given you, you will be shot down. Wardog Three you are cleared to activate your radar and lock on to Flight Lieutenant Aba's aircraft. That's an order major. If you do not comply, you will be considered insubordinate and will be immediately court-martialed when you land.", replied Colonel Bartlett. _

_"Gawddammit, what is wrong with your people. I thought you were here to help us. Now you're refusing to help us out when one of our pilots is in need. Fuck y'all then!", yelled Mickey as he reefed his Tomcat around and pointed its nose at Major Grimm's Eagle and at the same time activated his radar system to get a lock on the transgressor. _

_Ignoring the squawking of the other voices, Mickey armed his weapons and called the Eagle pilot on the radio._

_"Major Grimm if you so much as fire one missile at my friend, I will blow you out of the sky.", Mickey commented grimly with his finger inches away from his finger. _

_"No you won't Captain Simon. Check Six.", replied an emotionless voice to Mickey's challenge. _

_Mickey felt his blood run cold as he recognized the nose of Major Nagase's Super Hornet directly behind him and heard his radar homing and warning (RHAW) gear scream as it registered the radar painting his aircraft. Edge Nagase-Thomas was saddled in the perfect firing position to riddle his Tomcat with 20mm cannon shells. Knowing that Kazama was out there to protect him while he made his attack run, Mickey felt that he was in a superior bargaining position. He felt that way until Major Snow came over the net and dashed his hopes. _

_"Captain Simon, this is Major Snow. I know you know what the radar in a Tomcat can do. At this time I have both Flight Captain Palvanoff and Lieutenant Colonel Kazama locked up on my radar. I also have one AiM-54 Phoenix locked on to your aircraft if for some odd reason Major Nagase misses. Don't make me pull the trigger, captain. Do the right thing and disarm your weapons."_

_In his Harrier, Kim felt that he had no choice but to follow the orders of the air traffic controller if he wanted his friends to live. Depressing his microphone switch, Kim placed a call. _

_"Mickey, Kitori, Shin don't do anything. I'll comply with their orders. Disarm your weapons. Aircraft at my six, I will accompany you. Changing course to two-one-five, I guess my fate is in your hands."_

_Mickey watched as Kim changed to his ordered heading and flew off. Within seconds he was gone from sight and Simon slammed a fist down on his knee. He wanted to land and get to the bottom of this travesty and didn't care what it cost him. Something wasn't right and he wanted to find out what it was. Even if it meant he butted heads with Major Snow physically. _

_Mickey landed his aircraft with all intention of jumping out and storming up to Colonel Bartlett and punching the officious bastard in the face. What he saw when he taxied in was Major Blaze Thomas standing with Colonel Vashtarl. Shutting down his engines and finishing his post flight checks, the blonde Tomcat pilot eschewed the ladder and lithely jumped from his cockpit to the ground. Mickey stormed up to the colonel and demanded to know why he didn't say anything about the situation. Vashtarl didn't answer and Mickey was about to grab the front of his flight suit when Thomas spoke up. _

_"It was on my orders that the tower denied permission for Aba to land. If you need somebody to take your anger out on, take it out on me.", Blaze said resolutely. _

_"Why you……", shouted Mickey as his eyes flashed and he punched the smaller pilot in the jaw. _

_To his credit, Blaze didn't flinch. He just took the punch and accepted it and turned to walk back to the tower where his friends waited. Before he took a step, Blaze looked over his shoulder and gave them all a pitying look. _

_"This is for the kid's own good. He'll be back. I didn't send him off to his death. I don't operate that way.", stated Blaze in a tone full of pity that angered the big American to no end. _

_Mickey reached out to grab the smaller pilot by the shoulder and yank him around to deliver another punch when Colonel Vashtarl's voice whipcracked through the air, stilling Mickey's actions. The three Area 88 pilots looked at their commander with eyes full of anger at his interruption of what they thought was some deserved justice. _

_"All of you, my quarters now! We'll discuss this there!", snapped Saki. _

_"But highness!", started Kitori. _

_"No buts, Baroness Palvanoff! I want all of you in my quarters immediately! The rest of the flight schedule for today is scrubbed!", the prince bit off before whirling and storming off. _

_With nothing else to do, the trio followed him. When they arrived at their destination still attired in their flight gear, they found their commander sitting pensively in a chair by the window. Before the questions could begin, Saki brought up the mock dogfight where Kitori got pissed at Kim for calling him her superior. She bristled but before she could elaborate on her reasoning, Saki pinned her with his glare. After waiting a moment and lighting a cigarette, Saki spoke. _

_"Kitori, do you realize that if Kim knew how to fly his aircraft to its limits, you wouldn't have beaten him that day. In fact, if Kim knew every little thing about the Harrier, he could've have easily made his 1.5 million and been released from his contract."_

_"There's no way that kid could beat my F-1 then and there ain't no way he can beat my Rhino now!", exclaimed Kitori. _

_Mickey watched as Saki glared at his cousin before settling down and getting to the point of this meeting. _

_"Our hosts see something in Aba that none of us except possibly Kazama has seen and they brought in an outside instructor. One who will teach young Aba to take his aircraft to its limits and then some. When Major Thomas first told me this, I felt the same was as you do. Yet the more I observe them, the more I see that these people know pilots and planes much better than we do. Between the four of us, we've faced off against each of their pilots numerous times and we, as well as they, have learned from it. However, not one of us has faced their best pilot. We don't know what he's capable of. What we do know is that he wants to help us, all of us, become better pilots. This Blaze sees something in Kim and can guess that Kim could become one of the greatest pilots of all time. However, before he can help us reach that next level, Blaze has to be sure we can handle it and Kim is lagging behind. Not in skills, because the young one is extremely skilled. Kim has yet to figure out how to take his aircraft to its ultimate limit. Major Thomas thinks, and I concur with him, that this extra type-specific training for Aba can do nothing but help us and the rest of our friends. Once he masters this training, Kim can then pass it on to the other VTOL pilots at Area 88. Now I want the three of you to just continue your training. Kim will probably return before we know it. When he does, Kitori I want you to fly against him first. That is all I wish for now. Please excuse me; I have to go study the photos Blaze brought back. And Mickey, leave Shinjou alone. He feels bad enough as it for his actions years ago. Don't make him feel worse."_

_Mickey had grumbled but acquiesced to the request and stormed out of the Prince's quarters in a funk._

_End Flashback_

Bringing his attention back to the situation at hand, Mickey saw that Edge had regained the advantage against him and was making him work harder to negate her advantage; just as he was about to do so, she called him and ordered him to knock it off.

"What's going on major? Are that afraid to lose to me again?", taunted Mickey over the radio.

Edge frowned as she heard the taunt in her opponent's voice. She knew that Mickey still rankled about the way Wardog had treated their young Harrier pilot and took every chance he could in the mock dogfights to make them pay for it. His skill had taken an exponential leap because of that but he still was held back by his attitude. She wasn't worried about that though; Kei knew that once Blaze was ready, he'd knock the cockiness right out of the smartass and enjoy doing it. In her professional opinion, Blaze was the best because he could take a very disadvantaged situation and turn it to his advantage and he wasn't cocky about it.

Blaze was just that damn good.

_**"Well the smartass still needs an answer, so I guess I won't disappoint him.", **__thought Edge as she maneuvered her aircraft so Simon could approach her wing safely. _

Glancing over at the larger aircraft, Edge shook her head before keying her mic.

"Lose to you again? How long did it take you before you could even somewhat match up to me? I just called it off because Blaze and one of his students are inbound to Sand Island and I wanted to see how well you compare to her in dissimilar aircraft formation flying. If you compare favorably with his student, I'll see how well you've advanced and will consider you my semi-equal in the air.", commented Edge as she checked her radar to find her husband.

Over in the Tomcat, Mickey Simon glared at his radio and gritted his teeth. He still hadn't forgiven the major for his actions in bringing that traitorous photographer to this island. Nor had he forgiven his actions the day that Kim had been banished from this base for extra training. Yes they'd heard that Kim had landed safely and was being treated professionally but the messages had always come through either Colonel Bartlett or Colonel Vashtarl and Mickey was sure that Bartlett wasn't passing on everything he learned.

Checking his radar, Mickey saw that the two ship formation wasn't that far off and it would just take a couple of minutes for him and Major Nagase to join on them. Activating his Television Camera System (TCS), he slewed the camera around till it was focused on the same bearing as Blaze's flight as the radar indicated. Focusing the camera on the distant pair of aircraft, Mickey saw that Blaze and his wingman were piloting planes similar to the one Razgriz One had shown up in so many weeks ago. Deciding to show the arrogant pilot what he could do, Mickey turned his radio down so he could barely hear it and advanced his throttles to the max power setting. He was going to make a high speed pass and see if he could cause Blaze Thomas to loose control of his aircraft for a split second. Ignoring the muted cries of warning from his flight lead, Mickey made his move.

Major Ian Thomas was cruising. Earlier today, Blaze had buttonholed Airman 1st Class Davenport after class and asked her if she wanted the chance to receive extra credit. She'd jumped at the chance and her eyes had lit up when he told her to grab her flight gear and meet him on the Heierlark flight line along with a pair of Aardvarks. Davenport's enthusiasm dimmed a bit when she was informed that she was flying with her instructor to pick up his children and take them to see their mom at Sand Island. But she bounced back after Blaze had told her that Sand Island was where he'd met her father and he wanted her to be able to feel closer to her late predecessor.

Right now, Blaze was flying at angels 12 with his daughter Kita strapped into the co-pilots' seat beside him. Kita was wearing a custom-made flight suit, g-suit, and helmet with a boom microphone in place of the oxygen mask. Blaze grinned to himself as he saw that his daughter was intently watching the instruments and asking questions.

_**"Flying with my daughter, it's a good feeling. Who knew that Kita would be this interested in aviation? Kei will be pleased and I know that my darling wife will subtly direct our daughter into this field of work as she grows older.", **__thought Blaze as he undid the left side bayonet fittings on his oxygen mask and let it dangle. _

Folding the boom microphone from its position on the side of his helmet in front of his mouth, Blaze called his wingman and checked on his son.

"Sled Dog two, this is Sled Dog lead. Everything okay over there Davenport, is your passenger behaving himself?", Blaze called.

"Lead, this is two. He's behaving himself, looks like he's dozed off for now. Want me to wake him up so you can talk to him?", replied Alina Davenport.

"Negative, let him sleep. He'll be awake soon enough."

"Copy that, Sled Dog two out."

"Sled Dog lead, out.", returned Blaze as he returned his attention to his flying.

"Daddy, is Allen alright over in Auntie Alina's plane?", questioned Kita Thomas. She'd heard the conversation between her father and her adopted aunt.

"Yeah honey, your brother is fine. He just fell asleep. Why don't you try and get some rest yourself, we'll be seeing mommy soon.", said Blaze easily as he reached over and patted the top of his daughters' helmet.

"Okay daddy. I'll try.", yawned Kita as she leaned back and closed her eyes.

Blaze looked over at his daughter and smiled. If they'd have to eject, at least the two of them could stay together since the entire cockpit of this aircraft was ejected and the flight crew stayed together. Blaze hadn't told Edge about this but the Aardvark was the only military fighter he'd allow either Allen or Kita to fly in as a passenger. Seeing that her torso harness was loose, Blaze reminded his daughter to tighten it.

"Remember to tighter your harness like I taught you, okay honey?"

"I will dad.", Kita answered while suiting her small hands to her words.

Blaze nodded once Kita's harness was tight and he switched the intercom system from hot mic to cold mic (from always open for communication to where it had to be activated by a switch to allow the crew to talk to each other).

As he returned his attention to his task, Blaze's sharp eyes caught the glint of sunlight off of the canopies of fighters and figured that they were from Sand Island and planned to join on him and his wingman for the remaining flight to the base. Reaching down to the radio switch while watching the formation, Blaze began to get a feeling that something wasn't right and it worried him. Casting a glance at the sleeping form of his daughter in the seat next to him, the ace fighter pilot and father of two reattached his oxygen mask to its fittings and prepared himself for whatever may come.

"Lead this is two. I have a visual on two fighters closing our position.", called Davenport.

"I have a tally on those fighters myself two. Go 'loose deuce'", snapped Blaze.

By now, he could recognize the two fighters as a Hornet and a Tomcat. Hoping against hope that Snow was in the Tomcat, Blaze waited for the other pilot to make his move. As the 'Cat blew past, Blaze's hopes faded as he saw the graphic on the tail.

_**"Shit, its Mickey. And he's still pissed at me for what happened the other day. Dammit, I'm at a major disadvantage here. What can I do? Waitaminute, if Kei is in the Hornet, maybe I can get her to talk Mickey out of this. If not, well….",**__ thought Blaze as he cast a look at his sleeping daughter._

Keying the radio, Blaze made a hurried call.

"Edge, if that's you in the Rhino, I need you to call off Mickey. Davenport and I are carrying a couple of special visitors that _can not_ be exposed to extreme maneuvering. Please call him off for me baby.", pleaded Blaze.

Edge listened to her husband and wondered what he meant. It took her a second to realize what he was talking about however it was too late as Mickey made his first aggressive move.

Blaze watched as Mickey committed to his first move. As he went to counter it, he whispered a prayer for his daughters' safety and pushed his throttles forward then outboard and forward again to activate his burners to give him the speed he needed. Blaze knew that he couldn't maneuver too violently. He didn't want to think about the affect on Kita if he did. Kicking in full left rudder and rolling his aircraft to the left, he barrel rolled away thus ruining Mickey's firing solution.

In the Tomcat, Mickey cursed as his gunsight pipper danced off the spot he'd just managed to put it on to frighten Blaze into apologizing for his treatment of Kim. He'd heard the radio call about the special packages but it didn't stop him from again trying to put his pipper on the other aircraft. Ignoring the major's wingman, he waited for the right moment to again attempt to gain the advantage. He wanted to show this major who was the better pilot.

On the ground, Marcus Snow sprinted from the control tower's radio room to the flightline where he knew Shin Kazama was finishing up his post flight checks. Stopping by the blue and white Tiger, Snow caught his breath before speaking.

"Shin, you need to launch and keep Mickey from causing Blaze to crash.", he panted.

"Why should I, major? Major Thomas refused to allow a friend of mine to return to base when he was low on fuel and threatened to shoot him down if he even attempted to do so. Why should I stop him, tell me that?", commented Shin calmly.

Now most people knew that it was hard to get Marcus Snow to blow his top and showcase his infamous temper. But when Snow did explode, it was a sight (a great one to see some opinioned) to see. Marcus glared at Shin and grabbed the front of his flightsuit (not an easy feat considering that Snow was balanced on the boarding ladder of Shin's aircraft) and dragged his face close.

"You should help Blaze out because he has his daughter in the aircraft with him. And if something happens to either one of them you will get to find out why we call Major Nagase, 'Edge'", answered Swordsman angrily.

The implications of what the six-four pilot meant broke through Shin's stubbornness and his eyes went wide. Ceasing his checks, Shin hurriedly motioned for the ground crew to move away from his aircraft so he could start his engines and keep things from further spiraling out of control.

Meanwhile, in the air, Edge was desperately trying to get Mickey to halt his aggressiveness by any means possible short of putting a missile up his ass. Edge didn't want to be the one that strained relations between Wardog and Zero-Zero Section. With her heart in her throat, Edge cut across Mickey's flight path so close she disrupted the airflow into his engines for a minute and caused him to break off for a bit. Mickey, however, knew how to counter that and pushed his shuddering fighter into a shallow dive. Once the turbulence entering his engine intakes ceased, he pulled out and looked for his target. Spotting Blazes' aircraft, he lit out in pursuit.

In his cockpit, Blaze was pulling every modified maneuver he could. Kita had woken up and was screaming in fright because of the semi-violent maneuver. The moves eventually scared her into silence and that worried her father and Blaze felt the incendiary temper he was named for rising to the fore. Mentally he was cursing up a storm but there was no outward sign of his inner turmoil except for the intense glare that was showing on his face if anyone had been able to see it.

Trying to calm his daughter as she shrieked in fright, Blaze spotted Mickey making another pass. Knowing that he couldn't pull any of his emergency evasive maneuvers because the tremendous g-forces they would entail would be harmful to his daughter, Blaze waited. He was about to give up when he saw Mickey break off his pass and wondered why he would do that. A second later the answer became clear when a blue and white streak shot past him on a collision course with the Tomcat.

Recognizing the emblem on the vertical tail, Blaze gave a sigh of relief and turned his attention to bringing is plane in safely and calming his daughter down. With his nerves as taut as violin strings, Blaze was able to bring the Aardvark in for a slightly rough landing and taxied to a spot next to the hanger. Shutting everything down and forgoing his post flight checks, Blaze hurriedly unstrapped himself, raised his cockpit canopy and jumped out of his aircraft. Once on the ground, he ran around to the other side of the plane and climbed up the integral boarding ladder built into the side of the plane and triggered the canopy release.

Impatiently waiting for the co-pilot's canopy to raise, Blaze looked across the way and saw his wife sprinting in his direction. When the canopy had stopped its travel, Blaze reached in and gently unstrapped Kita from the ejection seat and lifted her out of the cockpit. Using his free hand, he brushed back the lever used to raise and lower the helmet's eye shield. Seeing the dark eyes of his daughter blink as she realized that she was safe, Blaze cradled his six year old daughter to his shoulder and allowed the ground crewmen to help him climb down from the cockpit.

Refusing to relinquish his grip on is daughter, Blaze made his way over to Edge. Edge reached her husband and thanked god that her child was safe. She'd already held her son close and thanked Davenport for keeping him safe. Telling the pilot trainee to keep an eye on her son, Edge had rushed over to where Blaze was extracting Kita from the cocoon of harness straps and gently lifting her out of the cockpit. When she saw that Kita's eyes were open and she blinked, Edge almost fell to the ground crying but refrained. She'd wait till later to release her emotions. Hearing her husbands' voice, Edge realized that Blaze was speaking to Kita in a calm voice and apologizing for what putting her through all of that. Glancing around at the gathered crowd, she saw that the other pilots had arrived and were waiting to see what was going to happen. Even Mickey Simon had rushed up and had a look of regret on his face.

Only her time living with and loving Blaze allowed Edge to pick up the tone of his voice that told her that he was trying to keep his own tears from falling.

"Kita, are you alright?! Come on, talk to me! Are you okay?", pleaded Blaze as he hugged his daughter close.

"I'm okay now dad. I was scared earlier but now I'm okay.", answered the six year old in a soft tone of voice that calmed Blaze down a bit.

Just holding his daughter and allowing his breathing to come back down, Blaze gazed around at the gathered pilots. When his eyes landed on the instigator of the whole incident, the anger blazed up again. Carefully passing Kita off to Kei, Blaze slowly strolled up to the taller pilot and looked him over once. Turning away for a bit as if he was going to drop it, Blaze whirled around before anyone could stop him and punched Mickey dead in the jaw. Continuing his actions, he grabbed the taller pilot by the front of his g-suit and lifted him up on to his toes and rammed him against the wall of the hanger with such force that the entire hanger shook.

Blaze rammed Mickey against the wall twice more before Swordsman could grab him by the arms and stop him from doing anymore damage. The last thing Blaze told Mickey before Snow and Grimm dragged him off was that he'd made the biggest mistake of his life by putting the life of Blaze's daughter in danger like that.

"I was going to give you another week to prepare for your dogfight against me Simon, but because you screwed the pooch so gawddammed badly today, you and your friends have only seventy-two to ninety-six hours to get ready to face me in your final exam. Even though you fucked up seriously today, I'm going to tell you what I had planned to tell you today anyway. Your friend Kim, you know the one everybody accused me of singling out and refusing to let land for fuel, well he's coming back and he's going to be here tomorrow. Kim's been training extra hard and whomever fights him first will be in for one helluva surprise. It may be the first but it won't be the last surprise I intend to visit upon you.", snarled Blaze as he stalked off.

When Shin tried to follow the angry pilot, Swordsman warned him off. He told the Area 88'ers to let it drop for now and to leave Blaze alone for the next hour or so.

"Blaze will have calmed down enough to approach by then.", spoke the big Tomcat driver.

Everyone watched Blaze until he was no longer in sight and returned to their business. Edge took her children to the messhall so they could get something to drink and for Kita to calm down a bit more from her experiences during the flight. Worrying about her husband (she'd never seen him that angry before), Edge cast along glance in the direction Blaze had went before ultimately surrendering to the inevitable fact that she'd probably see her husband later .

On the other side of the base, Blaze was talking with Pops about what he wanted painted on the vertical stabilizer of his Tigershark.

"Are you sure you can do this Pops? I mean, I know you do good work but I want to make sure.", asked Blaze as he held a picture of his idea in his hand.

Pops had heard about Blaze's blow up at the Area 88 Tomcat pilot and knew about Blazes' temper from experiences during the war with the Yukes and later the Belkans. Pops also knew that the young pilot's temper led to his being tagged with his current callsign.

"Let me get this straight, Blaze. You want me to paint the spine of your T-Shark bright orange. You also wanted to paint the vertical stabilizer the same orange to match then put a dark red dragon breathing white fire to spell out the your callsign?", asked Pops.

"Yeah, that sounds about right. I was just looking at the aircraft the guys from 88 brought with them. I especially like the unicorn on Kazama's Tiger II. It looks a lot like him in the way it was drawn then painted. Think you could do it?", Blaze said.

The old fighter pilot looked at the illustration and rubbed his hand over his beard in introspection. Pops was sure he could do the painting but he needed somebody to draw out the pattern on the tail of the aircraft. He figured that it may have to wait until they returned to Heierlark.

"Of course I can do this Blaze. However, I need somebody to go ahead and paint the vertical stab the shade of orange you want it. Then I'll have to get somebody to sketch out the rest of the design before I can even start with the detail painting. Anything else you want me to do?"

"Yeah, paint red, orange, and white tiger stripes on the nose of my plane to match the tail. I think that would be fairly intimidating to an opponent who gets close enough to see it. Not that they'll get that close though.", commented Blaze knowingly.

Pops looked at the young pilot with a concerned look on his face. The young buck was starting to get a bit cocky and that didn't bode well for his surviving another aerial battlefield. Figuring that Blaze needed a lesson, he patted him on the shoulder and told him to keep his flight gear on. Pops nodded as he saw the younger man's eyes widen at the implication in his words. During the entire time he'd known the young man, Pops knew that there were two pilots who Blaze had never beat more than once. Colonel Jack 'Heartbreak One' Bartlett was one such pilot.

The other pilot was the one legendary Belkan Ace and Pops' alter ego: Huckebein 'The Raven'.

"Awww shit.", groaned Blaze. He knew when he'd fucked up bad enough to have Pops promise to teach him a lesson in aerial humility.

Pops just smiled and pointed at the door to the Personal Equipment (P.E.) room. Blaze slumped his shoulders and headed in the direction indicated. He knew he was up for a very humiliating flight.

**Next Day. 1000 Hours. Sand Island Base. **

Seventeen year old Kim Aba was feelin' pretty good. His type-specific training had done wonders for his confidence as had his time away from his friends. It gave the young man a chance for a kind of temporary independence and he'd reveled in it. In the weeks since his temporary exile to the carrier, Aba had learned more about his chosen aircraft and what it could do. He became intimately acquainted with his engines, avionics, and weapons systems. Aba's fighter had been even given an overhaul and his airframe, engine, controls, avionics, and weapons systems had been given substantial upgrades. However, the most important thing Kim had learned in his time being tutored by Captain Yuri 'Mad Dawg' Smolensk was how to VIFF his bird.

Cruising through the air at a healthy 500 knots with 27,000 feet of sky beneath him before the cerulean blue sea, Kim exulted as he returned back to what had become his home away from home. Kim thought back to his introduction to carrier operations when he'd landed aboard the Yuktobanian carrier with nothing but fumes in his tank. Shutting down his engine as the deck crew bustled around his bird with alacrity; Kim had opened his cockpit and turned his head to look at the Harrier on the deck next to his.

The other aircraft had been painted in what Kim would soon come to learn as 'lo-vis blue' that allowed the murderous looking fighter to blend in with the color of the ocean's surface as it approached its target at low level. Unstrapping and allowing the plane captain to help him out of the cockpit, Kim climbed down onto the non-skid covered deck. As was expected, the motion of the ship had his inner ear turning somersaults and he vomited (much to his embarrassment) the remains of his breakfast right then and there. Luckily it avoided his flight boots and landed where it could easily be washed off by the sea spray. Until someone slapped a motion sickness patch behind his ear, Kim felt nauseous enough to not want to attempt to enter the ship through its island and head below to get some rest before meeting his instructor.

The next day had started off with a bang, literally, for the young Harrier pilot as one of the catapults had been tested before flight operations had commenced. Aba laughed as he remembered his reaction. He also remembered almost falling out of his rack when the explosion had gone off right above his head. Kim remembered that his first impression of his instructor wasn't complimentary (he'd inadvertently grabbed the guy's coffee while eating breakfast in the dirty shirt wardroom with the other pilots).

"That was a meeting I'll never forget for as long as I live.", Aba told himself as he checked his heading on his map.

A few minutes later, Kim began to get an eerie feeling and started looking around. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up and Kim never ignored that feeling. It had saved his ass many times while flying out of Area 88 during the earlier Asranian Civil War. Switching his air to air radar from standby to search, Aba started varying his altitude by thousands of feet a minute. He also began cutting back and forth along his heading to get a look and see if anyone was following him.

It was on his fifth jink that he spotted his antagonist, a fighter coming hell for leather from below and behind. Kim cursed as he recognized the angular silhouette of a Hornet. If this was who he thought it was, he was in for one hell of a fight.

_**"Hehehe, just you wait Major Nagase; I'm not the same pilot I was when I first arrived here. I'm gonna give you the fight of your life.",**__ thought Kim as he programmed his radar to track the ascending aircraft. _

As the Hornet came closer, Kim narrowed his eyes as he tightened his oxygen mask. If this was Edge Nagase, she wasn't flying her usual way. The attack profile looked familiar but for the life of him, Kim couldn't remember where he'd seen it before. Pushing over in a dive, he racked his memory as he tried to remember where he'd seen that style of attack before. As he prepared for the head on vertical pass with his opponent, Kim's RHAW gear alerted him to the fact that his enemy was tracking him and trying to get a lock. Dropping chaff and flares, Kim leveled out and broke to the left. He knew that in doing so he'd expose his tailpipe to the enemy where they could get a solid heatseeking lock.

------------------------

In her Hornet, Kitori Palvanoff yawned in resignation. Kim was doing the same thing he'd done before when she'd first attacked him.

_**"His claws are still weak. The type-specific training he received must not have taken. Oh well, I can end this quick and return to base.", **__thought Palvanoff as she set up on Aba's tail again. _

Following her opponent with her eyes, Kitori listened as her radar tried to lock on to the wildly maneuvering Harrier. In focusing so hard on trying to end this quick, Kitori ignored everything else going on around her and concentrated on her target. So intent on her opponent was Palvanoff that she missed it when Kim made his move.

Over in the Harrier, Kim finally recognized who he was fighting. His mind flashed back to that day where Kitori had humiliated him while he was showing her the area around Area 88. Licking his lips in anticipation, Kim vowed to make Palvanoff experience the same humiliation a thousand fold. Wrapping his left hand around his thrust vector lever, Aba prepared to spring his first surprise on the unsuspecting Palvanoff. When the time was right and he estimated that Kitori was close enough, Kim firmly wrapped his hand around the lever that orchestrated the movements of his exhaust nozzles and pushed it forward.

To the uninitiated viewing the Harrier from the outside it looked as if the Harrier had jammed on the brakes and accelerated straight up. In the time it took the unwary Kitori to blink, it looked as if Kim disappeared. One moment he was in front with her about to get a lock, the next he was gone. Yanking her head from side to side, Kitori looked but couldn't find the Harrier. Her first inclination that something was waay wrong was when her RHAW gear sounded off with the tone indicating that an enemy had gotten a lock on her aircraft.

"Kitori, if I were an enemy MiG, you'd be dead by now.", commented Kim over the radio.

"Huh, wha…!!!! How so? Where the hell are you Aba?", growled Kitori.

"Look behind you, baroness."

Kitori looked over her shoulder and for the first time saw the business end of the GAU-12 Equalizer 25mm five barrel Gatling cannon. The female ace imagined that she could even see the barrels of the cannon spinning in preparation to spit out a hail of armor piercing depleted uranium cannon shells that would shred her Hornet (and her with it) to pieces. Faced with such an untenable position, Kitori Palvanoff did the only thing she could.

"Knock it off, Kim. I lost this one. Let's set up for another run."

"Copy that."

The two planes broke in opposite directions to set up for their next joust. At twenty miles separation they turned towards each other and charged. Kim knew that with her superior speed, Kitori would try and blow past to set up for an energy fight. That was a fight Kim was sure his Harrier wouldn't win. He wanted to keep it an angles fight and use his superior maneuverability to his advantage.

As the two planes screamed towards each other with a closing speed in excess of a thousand miles an hour, Kitori mentally mapped out her strategy. She was going to have to start taking this fight seriously if she wanted to win this round. At the merge, Kitori pulled into a chandelle to try and reposition herself on Kim's six o'clock. At the top of her maneuver, she pulled back on her throttles and ruddered over. Looking out the top of her canopy, she watched as the Harrier reefed into an extremely tight left break.

"There's no way, no damn way he can pull that tight a turn in that aircraft and still remain in control! He'd stall and lose control.", muttered Kitori as she dropped the nose of her aircraft.

Situated below the Hornet jet, and therefore out of Kitori's line of sight, Kim had his nozzles pointed ninety degrees down again and was using the extra boost to increase the speed of his roll and was edging around to get his nose pointed at his opponent. Pulling his exhaust lever back, Kim positioned his nozzles all the way back as he came out of the break. This time switching from guns to missiles, Kim got a very good lock on Kitori's Hornet. Again, Kitori cursed. The little bastard had nailed her again. And he'd made it seem easy. Gritting her teeth, Kitori called for another head to head pass and the start of another dogfight. This time she vowed to win.

In the end due to low fuel states, Kitori and Kim split several mock dogfights. Instead of trying to muscle her plane around like she usually did, Kitori managed to finesse her Super Hornet into superior positions where Kim couldn't easily shake her. Using the Hornet's slow speed cornering ability, Kitori was also able to catch Kim a few times as he maneuvered. However, with the Viffing ability of the Harrier and Kim's already impressively substantial skills, Kitori had to admit to herself and to the others that night in Colonel Vashtarl's quarters that Kim had soundly defeated her. After they'd landed, Kitori saw her instructor step up and prepared herself for a lecture. However all she received from the younger woman was a smile and a pat on the shoulder.

"You did good Palvanoff. Harriers are hard targets. Their ability to Viff on the pilot's whim makes them difficult to fight. One thing that Kim didn't get to do because you didn't allow him to do was settle into a hover and do pedal turns to keep you in his radar's sweet spot. Every Harrier pilot I have known have told me that the hovering and trying to line up your target using just your pedals is nerve wracking, especially when you're taking fire and the only thing you want to do is pull your thrust lever back and get the hell outta there. Don't worry; even Blaze had troubles with Harriers during the war.", Edge consoled as Kitori finished her postflight, unstrapped, and egressed her aircraft.

Kitori nodded and thanked Edge for her critique of the mock battle before heading for the locker room to shower and change into a clean flight suit. Behind her, Kitori didn't know that Edge was watching and judging her on how she took this defeat.

"Seems like the baroness is shaping up to be the kind of fighter pilot I want her to be.", mused Kei to herself.

Then the aerial ace stuck her hands in her flightsuit pockets and strolled off towards the hanger. She had a few things to take care of before retiring to her quarters for the evening.

**Two Days Later. Heierlark Base. 0445 Hours. **

Blaze Thomas glanced at his watch as he finished tightening the laces on his flight boots. It was fairly early and the temperature was dropping rapidly. He saw that it was nearing the time for him to make the walk out to his plane and launch for Sand Island and show the guests of the OADF what he could do. Of course Blaze wasn't going to expose all of his tricks but he planned to make the mock dogfights coming up as memorable for the Area 88 crew as well as for himself. Hearing the door to the locker room open, Blaze turned his head and saw 'Tommy Gun' Thompson leaning against the door frame. His fellow war veteran and senior instructor grinned slightly but not for long. Blaze nodded an acknowledgement.

"It's almost time."

"I know."

"You ready for this?"

"Somewhat. I've been raring to find out how good these pilots actually are. I mean they were good before but I want to see them at their best."

"You know the rest of our fellow instructors are out there waiting for you. The guys are counting on you to pull this off and show them your aerial prowess."

Blaze nodded as he lithely rose to his feet. Reaching into the olive drab metal locker, he grabbed his g-suit and began the arduous task of wriggling into the chaps-like garment. Thompson waited a second before reaching over and helping the most decorated and highest scoring fighter jock in the entire Osean Air Defense and Maritime Defense Forces.

"What about the fleggies?", asked Blaze as he reached in and grabbed his helmet.

"Some of them are out there watching this hanger from the mess hall. With classes canceled for the day, they suspect something's up. I told 'Jammer' that his story about a bad storm approaching wouldn't hold water but he persisted in telling it. A lot of the others are crashed out trying to get some extra sack time. We, especially you, have been pushing them harder than before and they want to recoup their lost sleep.", replied Thompson., an old squadron mate of Snow's from back in the day.

"I see. How are Davenport and the rest of my students taking it?"

"Davenport's been crowing like a hound dog in the middle of the night ever since the two of you returned in those 'Varks. She's been telling the story of how you denied an ace 'Cat pilot a shot to anyone that'll listen. She and her Valkyries know something's up and they ain't buyin' the weather story. Her and her seven partners in crime are bundled up in heavy parkas with facemasks and standing by the runway to watch your launch. She's a chip off the old block. Davenports been yakkin' at anyone and everyone that you're about to kick some major simulated ass. Damn, she takes after her dad too much. I may have not particularly liked his loudmouth ass, but I'm surely missin' Chopper's wisecracks about now.", admitted the Tomcat instructor.

"Yeah, me too T.G., me too. Come on old friend it's time to get aviatin'."

Thompson patted Blaze on the shoulder and together they exited the P.E. room. Walking down the hallway, their boot heels clomping along the concrete and echoing in the silence, the two pilots headed for the hangar where Blaze's plane: Tigershark Zero-One-Six, sat hooked up to a start cart and waiting for its sundered half. Blaze stopped at the doorway and admired his ride from afar. The new paintjob on the vertical stabilizer glistened in the harsh lights of the hangar environment. The crewdogs had put many hours into getting the design right and Pops himself had flown in to supervise the final touches. Now they stood around the plane at parade rest. Blaze narrowed his eyes for a moment them widened them in large grin as he saw that the grounds crew attired in brand new coveralls that matched the design on the tail. Even from his present spot, he could see that they had bags under their eyes. Some were sleep-standing. Years of drill instructors and company commanders pounding into their heads the commands so repetitiously that it wasn't a surprise that these guys could do them in their sleep. Blaze turned to Thompson and lifted a questioning eyebrow that Matt 'Tommy Gun' Thompson saw, understood, and just shrugged his shoulders in answer. Dropping the subject, Blaze headed towards his fighter.

"Detail ATTEN-Hut!", came a growled command from a grizzled master gunnery sergeant standing in front of the gathered groundcrew.

With the practiced ease of many years of training and never forgotten harassments from boot camp, the crew of four females and five males snapped to the ordered position with parade ground crispness.

"Sound OFF!", yelled the senior non-commissioned officer.

The nine sounded off with their names and ranks in order as Blaze approached. Five paces from the veteran NCO, Blaze came to attention and snapped out a quick set of commands.

"Tigershark Zero-One-Six groundcrew team reporting as ordered. All present and accounted for, sir!", bellowed the former drill instructor as he snapped a salute so perfect that it would've made a general cry.

Blaze returned the salute and started his walkaround inspection. As he made his way to the nose of the fighter, the sergeant snapped out more commands in a rapid-fire cadence and the members of his detail exploded into action; racing to their assigned positions around the deadly aircraft. Blaze nodded approvingly and started his inspection. As he approached each position, its assigned crewman snapped to attention, saluted, and reported on the condition of that particular spot. Even though he listened to the reports and knew they were good, Blaze still inspected each part of his plane. The groundcrew didn't mind. They were used to pilots doing their own visual inspection to make sure their plane was ready even though the crewman already knew it was. Finishing up his inspection, Blaze returned to the sergeant and nodded again. The sergeant handed Blaze a clipboard with several sheets of paper on it. Blaze read and initialed each one before returning the clipboard to its rightful owner.

"Gunny, I'll bring this plane back to you with no damage.", Blaze stated.

"You'd better sir or you, me, and the crew here will have a very long, very painful discussion about each and every ding you managed to get on my bird.", growled the sergeant , malevolently.

Blaze chuckled then dismissed the groundcrew and turned his attention back to Thompson. Making a decision, he told the other instructor to wake up every dammed sleeping student on base and get them outside to line the runway for his take off.

"You sure?"

"Yeah, I want every one of those screwball fledglings to observe. I don't care if you have to use the air raid siren to get em' up but I want every swinging dick and bouncing tit out there and I'll give em' a show. Maybe they'll learn something. I gotta make a stop. Have the groundcrew tow my plane out to the runway. Izzat clear?", asked Blaze as he strapped on his helmet and checked his survival gear stowed on his harness.

"Yes sir. Very clear sir!"

"Quick being a wiseass, T.G., it doesn't suit your cavalier personality.", teased Blaze.

"Sit on it and spin, Blaze!", returned Thompson good-naturedly.

Thompson offered up a wry smile and spun on his heel and headed out to carry out his orders. Seconds later, the sound of the air raid siren could be heard winding up to its trademark and unforgettable shriek. It went on for a full five minutes before it shut down and Thompson's voice came over the base wide public address system. By then, Blaze had made his way to the secured Razgriz hangar and using the code given to him by Pops, deactivated the security system and walked inside.

Walking over to the life-sized portrait of his old friend, Blaze came to attention and saluted the painting before going over to Choppers' old record player. Turning it on and setting up the song he wanted played, Blaze piped it through the P.A. system and cranked the volume to the max. Soon the deceased fighter jocks' favorite song was blasting out and encompassing the entire base. It echoed off the hills and through the icy valleys. With one last glance at the portrait, Blaze tossed a thumbs up to the painting with a reasonable facsimile of Chopper Davenport's 'devil-may-care' grin and headed out. As he exited the hanger, Blaze tossed a remembered phrase over his shoulder.

"The Area 88 guys don't know it but there's a storm comin', old friend."

___**Cue: "Storm Coming' by Gnarls Barley**_

Outside, in the swirling snow and icy temperatures, Airman 1st Class Alina Davenport was talking excitedly with her seven friends. Ever since she and Major Thomas had returned to Heierlark, Alina took every chance she could to tell her seven suitemates about how the major had eluded that Tomcat. Right now, with her teeth chattering and her nose starting to run, she couldn't help but start the story again. Her roommate Airman 1st Class Kimberly Carson rolled her eyes and burrowed a bit deeper into her issue parka. Unlike the others, Carson hated cold weather and was only suffering in it because she wanted to fly like her idol Edge Nagase.

"Oh come on, 'Lina, don't start that again.", complained Carson.

"Look, I'm tellin' ya, Blaze is gonna do something today. Why do ya think he basically spent the majority of last night somewhere near the hangar where his plane is? I mean, isn't it obvious?", retorted Alina angrily.

Carson just snorted and turned her attention to the far end of the field. If nothing happened soon, she was planning on returning to their eight person suite and crashing hard. She had an avionics and aeronautics test on the Tornado F-3 coming up in a week and it was a make or break exam. Turning her attention to the shortest women in the bunch, Carson asked Second Lieutenant Kindra Ostenhaus and Second Lieutenant Nicolette Waters what they thought. The two women thought for a bit but before they could give her an answer, their roommate A1C Cindy Decker piped up with her thoughts.

"Maybe 'Lina's right, Kim, I mean last night the techs were loading the exercise Sidewinder, AMRAAM, and Sparrow exercise missiles on his plane. You know the ones with the smoke filled warheads that explode when they come in close proximity to your aircraft and scare you shitless each time. Yeah, they're dummy warheads and they won't harm or kill you, but they do give you an example of what an exploding missile looks like."

"I agree. I even heard that Major Thomas had the gundogs load his M-39 cannons with four hundred fifty rounds of those 20mm paint filled simu-nition rounds. I had a bad experience with them when my instructor, that bastard Captain Hammer, stitched me with a burst from his Falcon during a 1 v 1 a few weeks back.", pouted petite A1C Brittany Sanderson as she wrapped her glove covered hands around a mug of hot chocolate a concerned passerby handed her.

Second Lieutenants Nadine Fredericks and Daniella Sterling nodded in commiseration. Captain Bradley 'Sledge' Hammer had done the same thing to them when they went against him in a training exercise. To add insult to injury, Captain Hammer had asked them to explain their mistakes and how to avoid them in combat in front of their entire class as they watched the video from the battles.

Davenport was about to say something when she instinctively turned towards the end of the runway and spotted the plane sitting there awaiting its pilot. Glancing up and down the runway, she saw that nearly every trainee had gathered along the runway. Some were still wiping sleep from their eyes and cursing the idiot who'd set off the air raid siren. Returning her gaze towards the lone Tigershark, her heartbeat tripled when she spotted the lone flightsuited figure making his way towards the patient bird.

From her vantage point, Davenport and her friends heard the huffer cart ignite when Major Thomas was five paces away from his aircraft. The pilot chatted with the groundcrew-who she noticed were wearing matching coveralls that imitated the paint job on the plane-a bit before accepting something from another instructor and making his way over to his aircraft. The groundcrew left him alone as he again inspected his aircraft before mounting the boarding ladder and climbing towards the cockpit.

As she watched the major drop into his ejection seat, Alina recognized the plane captain strapping Major Thomas in and removing the ejection seat safety pins as the one who'd helped her the other day when she was having a hard time understanding a mechanical part she needed to know intimately for her next exam. He hadn't came out and given her the correct answer but he gave her enough hints that she was able to figure it out on her own. When Davenport glanced up to thank the man, he was gone and in his place he'd left a model of the part she had been studying on the desk.

Over in the airplane, Blaze was talking to his crew chief about some minor inconsequential things on another topic. With the record player blasting at max volume, it was getting harder and harder to hear the older man. Blaze tugged on his harness for a few seconds and pronounced it good to go. The crew chief slapped him up side the helmet and slid down the boarding ladder after lowering the canopy. Stepping around to the front of the aircraft where the pilot could see him, he raised his right hand above his head and started waving it in a circle.

Blaze acknowledged the engine start sign with an upraised thumb and moved his throttle to the start position before pressing on the igniter switch beneath. Holding the button for a few seconds and releasing it, Blaze heard the low whine that told him his engine was starting. Within seconds the noise from the engines had ramped up into a demonic shriek and he signaled that he wanted the huffer cart and ground power cart unhooked from his plane. Taking a quick glance at his instruments to make sure everything was in the green, Blaze lifted his head and gazed out of his cockpit and waited for the next hand signal.

With his head out of the cockpit and looking around, Blaze saw that the crew chief had cleared everyone away from his plane except for the guys kneeling by the chocks and waiting for the signal to pull em' out. Cycling his stick and checking his control surfaces, Blaze saw the master sergeant giving him a thumbs up signifying that his control surfaces were free and clear of any binding that may affect his handling of the aircraft. Waiting for the signal to hold his brakes, the pilot glanced around to do a visual check on his wings. Satisfied that his de-ice and anti-icing gear was on, Blaze waited for the next few signals.

Soon all that was left holding the plane in place was Blaze's pressure on the brake pedals as he slowly advanced his throttle to max power short of afterburners. A quick glance outside told the pilot that the decision to launch or not launch was now in the hands of the lone man standing in front of his nose. Blaze watched as crew chief moved to the left side of the cockpit, saluted Blaze, waited for an acknowledging salute, and turned his attention to the length of the runway. Blaze's eyes followed those of the crew chief and he saw that the runway was lined with dozens of trainees awaiting the very microsecond the pilot lifted his feet off the brakes and started his roll out. Halfway down the runway, Blaze spotted Alina Davenport and her partners watching him intently. Mentally telling himself to lift up right across from them, Blaze returned his attention to the crew chief.

Two pairs of eyes gazed intently at each other, affirming and reaffirming the bond between pilots and their ground crews and the trust they shared. Nodding ever so slightly, Blaze showed the other man he was ready. Setting his position lights to 'bright-flash' the multi-ace turned his attention towards the stretch of black runway in front of him. Blocking everything out except the essentials, Blaze waited for the signal he wanted. When it came, the crew chief extending his arm towards the horizon as he knelt on one knee with his extended hand touching the ground and pointing back towards the horizon, Blaze got off the brakes and let the plane move.

Glued in place with her friends, Alina H. Davenport watched as the glistening fighter started its take-off run. Something deep inside her told Alina that Major Thomas was going to try and lift off right in front of her and her friends. She pointed in the direction where she believed he was going to lift off to her friends.

"There. He's going to lift it off right there.", she stated.

From the peanut gallery came the cries of 'how do you know!'.

"I just know.", she answered with a knowing shrug.

Returning her attention to the rapidly approaching plane, Alina felt more than heard or saw when Blaze lit off his burner. The massive increase in thrust as raw fuel was poured into the afterburner can caused the plane to skid a bit on the icy runway but Blaze's delicate handwork saved him from a bad accident. As the plane passed the point Alina had indicated to her friends where their instructor was going to lift off, everyone looked on as Blaze pulled up in a low transition. A few hundred yards further down the runway, Blaze sucked the stick into his gut and the F-20 Tigershark responded like the true aerial carnivore it was and pulled straight up into a screaming vertical climb.

Blaze started to relax the back pressure on his control stick as he passed twenty-thousand feet. At thirty thousand, he started reducing power. Nearing fifty thousand vertical feet, the Tigershark stopped its climb and started to fall towards the Earth backwards. After letting it drift back on its own for a few feet, Blaze gave it a boot full of right rudder and sliced the nose down while finger tipping his control stick. Down on the ground, all of the trainees and some of the senior instructors cheered as the ace pilot executed a perfect Vertical Reverse.

_**(Author's Note: I want to thank author Bob Gandt for correcting me and explaining to me the difference between a 'Hammerhead' what I originally had here and a 'Vertical Reverse'. Thank you Mr. Gandt and I can't wait until Book Seven of your 'Brick Maxwell Chronicles' to come out.)**_

Bottoming out at around angels ten, Blaze poured on the speed and cranked his bird over in a ninety degree angle of bank and came screaming down the runway at just over Mach 1. Over the next few minutes the observers on the ground were awed by the complete repertoire of tricks in the bag of the ace T-Shark driver.

For the finale, Blaze again came screaming over the runway at around seventy-five feet in full blower. At the end of the runway facing the ocean, there was shock as the Tigershark suddenly whipped into a series of ever tightening barrel rolls. Blaze kept his bird rotating in the victory roll the entire ten thousand foot length of the runway until he reached the end pointing towards those killer cliffs. At the far end of the runway, Blaze rolled wings level and yanked back on his stick and, once again, sending his Tigershark screaming in joy; a verbal challenge blasted out through the air to inform every other fighter pilot in the world that the man pushing this Tigershark was not one to be fucked with in the air combat arena.

Everyone on the ground watched as the Tigershark reached a respectable cruising altitude and headed off into the distance. Then in ones and twos or groups of ten or more, the crowd dispersed. Finally the only ones left beside the runway were Alina Davenport and her friends and a group of five senior instructors. One instructor turned to his buddies and commented. The words drifted the hundred or so feet to group of eight women standing by the runway. When they became clear, the women looked at each other and nodded in agreement at the sentiment espoused by the man.

Daniella Sterling turned to Alina and asked her to repeat the instructors' words. When Alina did, Sterling could only shake her head and agree.

"He's right. Major Thomas is truly one sierra hotel pilot!"

_**(Sierra Hotel – S&t Hot! Highest compliment you can pay a pilot.)**_

**Sand Island Air Base. Same Day. 0900 Hours.**

There is one thing about combat that every fighter pilot agrees on, no matter if it's an exercise or the read deal: it's the waiting that gets ya.

It was the same for the Area 88 crew as they awaited their long sought after air to air duel with the best Osean Air Defense Force pilot on his way in their direction. None of them could sleep, the waiting was killing them.

The previous night, they had observed as Pops had overseen the loading of exercise missiles on each fighter and paint filled simu-nition rounds for their cannons. When the loading was finished, the old pilot and grandmaster aircraft mechanic gave them an in-depth brief about the armaments now mounted on their respective aircraft. Afterwards they tried to loosen up by hanging out in the lounge but it didn't work. One by one they each drifted off to their rooms with their own thoughts tumbling through their heads. None of the Asranian pilots got much sleep and breakfast was a quiet somber affair. Colonel Vashtarl tried to light a cigarette but it broke in his fingers. It took him five tries to get a cigarette going to his satisfaction without breaking it.

Kitori Palvanoff jumped five feet in the air when Kim dropped his plate. She glared at the younger pilot as he tried to stammer an apology but ultimately gave up and walked away. Realizing that she'd scared the teenager to death, Palvanoff leaped up and ran off to the lavatory and cried until she was able to get her nerves under control. Nobody commented when she returned with puffy eyes and a red nose.

Mickey Simon was vainly trying to shuffle a deck of cards. He kept dropping them midway through the shuffle and spent most of breakfast running around trying to retrieve the scattered cards before the colonel bade him to stop with a single icy stare. The big Tomcat pilot dropped into his seat and sat down heavily. He barely touched his breakfast.

Kim Aba, still shaking from Palvanoff's gaze, sat a good distance away from his friends and fearfully watched them for some action taken against him. He finished his breakfast but only got three steps towards the dishwasher when his stomach rebelled and he charged from the messhall in a valiant attempt to make it somewhere he could throw-up in peace.

Shin Kazama spent the time with his eyes closed organizing his thoughts. He fought his own stomach nerves down and settled for a mug of tea. Opening his eyes, Kazama reached into one of the pockets on his flightsuit and pulled out two pictures. One was of him and his wife on their wedding day. The other was a picture of a care-free, swimsuit-wearing Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama reclining in one of the many chairs around Area 88 and catching some sun. Shin had taken it with a camera borrowed from McCoy (the greedy bastard had charged him sixty bucks an hour for its use) and snapped the photo without his wife noticing what he was doing. She found out about it later and chased him around their quarters for an hour trying to get the picture from him. In the end he had relented and given it to her and she'd hidden it away.

_**"My darling wife doesn't know that I had the photo redeveloped from the negatives she conveniently forgot about.",**__ mused Shin as he sat waiting for the scramble to be called. _

A few hundred yards from where the Area 88 pilots were collecting their thoughts, another group of pilots tried collecting theirs.

In Bartlett's office, the three Razgriz pilots sat pensively waiting for their flight lead to arrive. By an unspoken agreement, Edge, Swordsman, and Archer had avoided all contact with Kazama and the others fearing that an innocuous comment would have serious repercussions. The trio had arrived at the office within minutes of each other with Swordsman Snow arriving first. Snow had been followed a few minutes later by Archer who was vainly trying to balance a plate on top of his squadron mug. The mug was full of hot coffee and the young man was having a time trying to keep his fingers from being burned. Snow had taken pity on Grimm and lifted the plate off the cup so Grimm could take a sip of the steaming hot black liquid and get his caffeine jolt for the morning.

A few minutes after Archer had finally situated himself and was taking his first bite, Edge Thomas had shown up. Both Snow and Grimm glanced at each other before quickly averting their faces as they noticed the dark bags under Kei's eyes that testified that she hadn't gotten much sleep. Snow handed the young woman his handkerchief and jerked his head in the direction of Bartlett's office lavatory so she could wipe the remnants of sleep from under her eyes and regain some semblance of the attractive woman he'd known during the war. Edge had accepted the fabric with a thankful nod and hurried towards the sink. As she passed Archer, the younger pilot offered her a sip of his coffee to perk her up. She declined knowing full well that Archer lived on a high octane brew he called supa-java.

As the time passed in silence, the three wingmen communed quietly with each other. Snow relinquished his position at the large window to Edge while Archer finished his meal and moved to one of the comfortable chairs sitting in front of Bartlett's desk and propped his feet up on the coffee table. The young pilot hadn't been in the chair for five minutes when he dozed off. Edge and Swordsman noted the soft almost feminine snores coming from the recent college grad and shook their heads. Archer was known throughout the fleet and the air force for how fast he could fall asleep in any situation where he wasn't flying. Thirty minutes later, Jack and Nastasya Bartlett entered the office and stopped short when their eyes landed on the snoozing pilot. Jack looked at Snow and Nagase before shaking his head in resignation and moving behind his desk. Taking a seat he turned to his pilots.

"Blaze has left Heierlark and finished his first refueling. He has another in two hours. That refueling will put him approximately an hour away and give him enough fuel for one, maybe two, mock dogfights. After that he'll land, refuel, and rest a bit before launching again to finish up the schedule.", commented Jack as he noted the concerned looks on Nagase's and Snow's faces.

"Who'll he face first, boss?", yawned Archer as he stretched a bit before opening his eyes.

"I don't know, Hans. I don't know. However I do suspect that Vashtarl and Kazama will sit back and observe Blaze to see if he has any weaknesses. If I had to take a guess, I'd place my money on Simon wanting to take him on first. We suspect that Simon may still hold a slight grudge with Blaze over his actions concerning Aba."

Everyone nodded at that and began mentally praying for their friend as he faced the cocky American Tomcat pilot. Nastasya perched her lithe figure on the edge of her husband's desk and made to pick up a stack of papers until Jack cleared his throat and shook his head at her curiosity. Nastasya glared at her husband for an instant but it dissolved as she remembered what had been passed on to her from Mad Dog Smolenski.

"Well I do have a bit of good news. It seems that Smolenski was so impressed by the young man we put under his not-so-gentle tutelage that he came up with what he thinks is the perfect callsign.", stated the intelligence agent while ignoring the subdued laughter flying directed her way when she mentioned the Yuke Harrier ace.

"The words gentle and Smolenski do not go together in any way, shape, or form. All of us gathered here know how harsh an instructor Mad Dog can be. Gentle does not describe the kind of hell we know he put Aba through.", sniggered Archer as he dropped his feet to the floor.

Kei and Marcus nodded in agreement. Bartlett glared at the two and told them to stuff it. He turned to his wife once the two pilots had finished their snickers and asked what the kid's callsign was going to be.

"Smolenski asked me to tell you to refer to that young man as 'Merlin'. Smolenski says that once Aba learned to push his aircraft harder than he had ever done before, he was a veritable dogfighting wizard."

The others nodded and Jack made a note of the new callsign on a slip of paper he'd found on his desk. Then listening to the others as they discussed what other callsigns could be awarded, Bartlett wrote them down. Once the discussion had reached its climax, he cleared his throat and announced what the callsigns were going to be.

"Okay, settle down knuckleheads, here's what I came up with for the others. You're all in agreement that Vashtarl should be named 'Doc' because of the way he flies and fights. Simon gets tagged with 'Playboy' although 'Wildcat' is a good alternate. The baroness gets tagged with 'Vixen' because Snow and Grimm think-and I agree-she's a hottie while Nagase and my lovely wife think that 'Hellion' fits Palvanoff better. That just leaves Kazama and from the looks of it, none of you could come up with a good running name for him."

"Yeah, he's too damn good. We can't think of any name that would fit him. I don't think anyone could come up with a callsign for that guy!", commented Swordsman (who'd been tagged with 'Hothead' during basic flight before receiving his present callsign during his first cruise).

Archer and Nastasya agreed while Edge put her chin in her hand and sat down. At the moment, Edge was of two minds. She was thinking about what kind of art she wanted on the vertical stabilizers of her Super Hornet and couldn't choose between two separate images. On the other side, Edge was coming to the conclusion that her husband would be the only one who'd be able to come up with a callsign for Shin Kazama. She mentioned this to those gathered and they nodded in agreement.

"Blaze is probably the only pilot in the entire world who could come up with a name for Kazama. Shin's just too damn good. I don't even think that Chopper or Hamilton could equally match up with Kazama.", stated Archer as he shifted his attention back to the window.

"Yeah and Blaze outflew and shot down Hamilton over Sudentor while Chopper was downed over November City. The only other pilot who would even have even half a chance against Kazama is that damn gold-helmeted bastard Mobius from Belka and nobody has seen him since Blaze popped him on our way to take out the SOLG. Although, he has been known to return when you least expect it. Hell early in our training, you shoved a Sidewinder up the ass of his Fishbed. He ejected and later Chopper dropped him with an AMRAAM through the fuselage of his F-35 Lightening II. ", commented Edge.

"Yeah I know. Archer busted up his Falcon with a Sparrow in a run over the desert and Chopper nailed his Tornado F-3 again during the Yuke retreat after the Osean Amphibious landing. Hell, I ever heard that Blaze gunned his Berkut down during the attack on the Fortress.", added Bartlett.

_**(Berkut Su-47. Wicked looking Russian Forward Swept Wing fighter analogous to NASA's X-29, only bigger. Occasionally called 'The Terminator'. IMO Berkut sounds better) **_

Edge and the others nodded. Even Snow remembered the shoot down of that persistent sonuvabitch during the mission where they'd rescued President Harling. Marcus had shot down Mobius's F/A-23 Black Widow II with a Sidewinder that snowy morning. But like Archer and Edge, the Swordsman knew that Blaze had a particular enmity with that pilot. Mobius had been flying a Typhoon when he'd shot down Chopper Davenport over November City the fateful night of the Vice President's speech. He'd toyed with Davenport's Hornet, first shooting him with a missile then using his cannon to pepper the mortally wounded aircraft as Chopper commenced his final landing. Blaze had been furious and vowed to kill Mobius the next time he saw him in the air. When Blaze used his Tomcat to shoot the enemy pilot down before hitting the SOLG, everyone believed then and still believed that the Belkan multi-ace, Ofnir student, and reserve Grabaecr pilot was dead.

Listening in on the conversation and not drawing much attention to herself as she'd been trained, Nastasya Bartlett stifled a gasp. As the best Yuktobanian intelligence expert during the war and leader of a combined Yuke-Osean intelligence organization after the end of the war, she'd kept abreast of former Belkan military leaders, and politicians who hadn't committed suicide, been assassinated, or arrested. Nastasya knew of whom her husband's pilots were speaking about. Unknown to the pilots, Mobius had once again ejected and survived being shot down. Some of Nastasya's informants had learned a couple of years after the war that Raymond 'Mobius' Sampson had again survived his ejection and been rescued by those Belkan leaders who'd escaped the aftermath of Sudentor. He'd been hospitalized for wounds sustained in that battle including a badly broken arm.

Nastasya also knew that Sampson had been trying to find out exactly who the Razgriz were. He was especially interested in the leader of the Razgriz and had done all sorts of searches for that legendary pilot. Using her own exceptional skills, it had taken Nastasya several months of digging deep into highly classified files to find out the reason 'Mobius' Sampson was searching for the man who'd shot him down on that fateful day. It turned out that Sampson wasn't angry at being shot down. On the contrary, he admired the skills of the Razgriz leader. Nastasya found out that Sampson was searching because he wanted revenge against the pilot for shooting down and killing his fiancée, Kitty 'Havoc' Steele, in the vicious dogfight down below the ridges of a certain ravine.

Nastasya's best informant had gotten word to her three days before the _Strizhi_ left port that 'Mobius' Sampson had been spotted boarding a Boeing 767 heading for a country at odds with Asran several months before. Going back over all the information gathered, Nastasya found out that Sampson had been making that flight several times since the end of the war and after his recovery. It became readily apparent that Sampson and others of his ilk was behind the sudden increase in well trained pilots for the air forces of Asran's enemies. It also wasn't a shock that several Grabaecr and Ofnir reserve pilots, students and their personal equipment had disappeared and along with surplus fighters had started popping up in the hands of Asran's enemies. A sobering fact about those surplus aircraft disappearances was that several Fulcrums, Flankers, Foxhounds, Gripens, and Rafales, and other advanced fighters had been among those missing aircraft. It was a chilling fact that there had been several Typhoons and MiG 1.44 fighters missing as well (a half squadron had been reported but Nastasya-by habit-rounded that number up to a full squadron just to be on the safe side).

Raymond 'Mobius' Sampson's chosen mount was either the awesomely fearsome MiG 1.44 or the extremely maneuverable Typhoon. He preferred the Typhoon.

_**"I hope that no one close to Edge and Blaze find Sampson's declaration of intent to kill the leader of the Razgriz and anyone close to him. I also hope that Sampson will never find out that the man who shot him down after Sudentor is married to the woman who damaged his F-16XL over McNealy and downed him and his Hornet over Apito International Airport.",**__ thought the spy as she gazed around the room. _

The chatter stopped when the familiar roar of jet engines resounded through the air. Everyone looked towards the window and watched as the first of the Area 88 fighters taxied towards the active runway. Colonel Bartlett had called it; Simon's F-14A with the playboy bunny on its vertical stabilizer was in the lead. The Tomcat was followed by the Palvanoff's F/A-18E. Behind the Tomcat and the Hornet came the rest of the Area 88 contingent. Each aircraft looked ethereally deadly with the exercise missiles on the hardpoints and the full load of simu-nition ammo ranging from 20mm up to 25mm. In the back of their minds the Razgriz knew that their leader was on his way with a similar load on his Tigershark.

One hundred and seventy-five miles away and cruising at an altitude of twenty-eight thousand five hundred thirty-two feet, Blaze started psyching himself up for the battle he knew was coming. During his refueling, the multi-ace had been philosophizing about the order of battle for the Area 88 pilots coming up to meet him. Like his friends on Sand Island, Blaze knew that there was a ninety-nine point nine percent chance that Mickey Simon was going to be his first opponent. Blaze still hadn't forgiven the cocky bastard for his actions the other week and decided to launch his Sparrows the minute he got a substantial lock on Simon to put him on the defensive and take him out of the battle early. If his missile did as it was programmed and splattered paint all over Mickey's aircraft-thus taking him out of the exercise-all the better. If the Tomcatter was adept enough to avoid it, kudos to him and Blaze could go on and merrily humiliate him later.

"After Simon is either out of the battle or busy, Kitori will be my second opponent. She's going to be headed this way with a bone in her teeth and Edge trained her well. That fight will be like fighting Edge herself. I hope that Edge trained Kitori and got her to keep her emotions in check. It would be pitiful to beat the baroness that easily. After Kitori, I'll either face Aba (that's gonna be a hell of a match), Colonel Vashtarl, or Shin Kazama himself. Hmm, can't postulate that order of battle right now. Will have to wait and see.", mused Blaze as he tightened his harness and activated his radar in search mode.

Blaze had a feeling that Mickey Simon was on the prowl and looking for payback.

As the miles counted down, Blaze armed his weapons and waited for the attack he knew as coming. He knew that Simon was going to attack first so it didn't faze him when his RHAW gear started chirping. Checking the display, Blaze sighed as his radar system catalogued the searching radar as an upgraded AWG-9. Now all the Tomcats in The OADF and the OMDF had gone through an upgrade and were now equipped with highly advanced variations of the APG-77 radar set so this attacker had to be Mickey Simon. Turning his head in the direction indicated by his RHAW system, Blaze caught the glint of sunlight off a canopy as the aircraft the canopy belonged to broke in and tried to maneuver to set up a shot.

"He's eschewing missiles. He wants to go gunzo. No problem, I can do that. I just gotta be careful of the squeeze play I have a feeling they're setting me up for. Okay, time for me to screw their plans to hell and gone.", commented Blaze as he pulled aggressively into the descending Tomcat.

Mickey Simon was grinning behind his oxygen mask. He figured that Thomas would take the bait and come after him when he purposely showed himself. So during their climb to altitude, Mickey and Kitori had been planning a response to Blaze's possible actions. In the end, they had agreed that the Simon would dive down and make it look like he was attacking from above. Once he saw Blaze commit, he was going to pull up and change direction as if he broke off to try and gain another advantage. When his opponent started to chase him, Kitori was gonna come diving out of the sun and try and slip in behind the major's aircraft for the easy shot.

It was a good, solid plan. Unfortunately, Blaze saw through it the instant Simon made his break.

Blaze watched as the Cat broke off its attack and sped east to get a better advantage. Shifting his eyes from the Tomcat to the silhouette now diving in on him (he'd spotted it as he'd made his climb and had kept it in sight even when it looked like he was starting to chase the -14). Switching his missile switch from AMRAAM to Sidewinder and getting a lock on the diving Hornet (oh the growl from the 'Winder sounded so good in his ears), Blaze squeezed the trigger.

"Fox Two, missile away at Hornet diving down at my eleven o'clock.", called Blaze

In the cockpit of her Hornet, Kitori swallowed a curse as she heard Blaze's call and saw the flash as the all aspect heat seeking missile slid off the wingtip railing, did the little snake dance that gave the missile its name, and came unerringly in her direction.

"_Shitfuck… Mickey, get your ass back here, now!! Blaze has me locked up and I gotta avoid the dammed 'Winder he's cranked_ _off!", _screamed Kitori into her oxygen mask as she broke off her attack and started maneuvering wildly to avoid the deadly little missile.

"Wha…how the hell did he see through our attack so quickly? I can't fucking believe this!", growled Mickey as he reversed his course and came roaring in to try and help his wingman.

Unfortunately for Mickey, once Blaze had launched at Kitori and confirmed that she would be busy for the next few seconds, he'd returned his attention back to Mickey and switched from his heatseeking Sidewinders to his semi-active radar homing Sparrows. With Mickey at about thirty miles away and coming back fast, Blaze needed to distract him while he searched for the Harrier he felt was out their watching the action. Getting a lock on the Tomcat as he bored in, Blaze gritted his teeth. If there was one thing he hated about the Sparrow missile, it was the fact that he had to fly in a straight line and keep his radar trained on his opponent till the Sparrow was in the terminal stages of its flight. With a sigh of relief, Blaze squeezed the trigger after waiting for the Sparrow to 'see' its target.

"Fox One. Missile away at Tomcat coming from my twelve o'clock.", called Blaze over the radio as the big missile came off the missile rack on station two.

_"Aww dammit! He got me good. Kitori, I gotta break off and evade a Sparrow.", _grunted Mickey heavily s he broke hard right to try and defeat the Sparrow.

_"Beam it and get the fuck back here! I can't shake this damn heatseeker!"_, replied Kitori as she dropped some more flares and again jinked to avoid missile actively seeking her out.

_"I'm trying, dammit! Get offa my case!!",_ replied Mickey as he dumped chaff then reversed his turn.

Blaze listened to the pair of pilots on the radio as he used his radar to search for Aba's Harrier. Ian knew that the kid was out there watching this little fracas and waiting to make his move. Something caught his interest at the edge of his radar screen and he changed modes so that it searched farther out. Watching the blip on his screen for a few seconds while keeping an eye out for more attacks from Simon and Palvanoff, Blaze debated whether it was the Harrier or someone else. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a flicker of what he knew was cannon fire and instantly flipped his aircraft over as the tracers zipped past his canopy.

"Those chintzy bastards, they tried to sucker me into a bout of complacency. They used another plane, either Kazama or the prince to distract me while Aba snuck up within gun range. It's a good thing I caught the flicker of his cannon. Now this is a dogfight.", exulted Blaze as he broke hard into the Harrier attempting to get within cannon range again.

Blaze called Aba on the radio and told him that that was a good move on his part but he still missed. Keeping an eye on his radar, Blaze saw that, while he had been talking to Aba, both the baroness and Mickey had evaded his missiles and were now screaming back into his direction to reengage him. Kitori was ten miles away while Mickey was about twenty-five miles further behind. Deciding to leave Aba alone and take on the Baroness, Blaze slipped the missile Aba sent after him and broke in to Kitori's flight path. She pulled up and inverted to avoid a collision but in doing so, Kitori left herself open for a zero-deflection stitching from the Tigershark's twin M-39's.

Kitori realized that she was well within Blaze's gun range and paid the price. She felt several 20mm thumps as his guns rattled her airframe and left gloriously hideous splotches of bright pink paint from just aft of her cockpit all along her port side and port wing.

"Kitori, you're outta there. If I was firing live rounds, your bird would be smoking heavily and you'd probably be looking for a safe bail out area. Return to Base and we'll debrief this flight later…. Ahh shit.!!", cried Blaze as he maneuvered wildly to avoid the incoming Sidewinder fired by Mickey Simon.

Seeing the Tigershark avoid his missile with the extremely nimble handling that gave the fearsome fighter its reputation, Mickey cursed. He'd had his throttles pinned to the max and was trying to get back in the fight. Mickey arrived in time to see the simu-nition rounds splatter across Kitori's fuselage and in a fit of pique had fired the instant he heard the familiar growl of a locked on Sidewinder.

_**"Sonuvabitch, the bastard avoided it!! Fuck me sideways!!!", **__screamed Mickey mentally as he honked his big fighter around for another go at the smaller pilot. _

Blaze grinned to himself as he watched the Tomcat maneuver. The movements told the ace pilot that the Tomcat driver had lost some of his cool and was now emotionally-driven to regain the advantage. It was the moment, Blaze had been waiting for. Mickey Simon was way overdue for a lesson in the fact that cockiness kills in the aerial battle arena. Keeping an eye out for Aba's Harrier, Vashtarl's Jaguar, or Kazama's Tiger sneaking in for a shot, Blaze concentrated the majority of his attention on Simon's aircraft.

"Simon, your attitude sucks and I'm about to give you an attitude adjustment. You're good, damn good, however, I can see now that your attitude is holding you back from taking a giant leap in your combat skills. I guess that with no opponents pushing you to your limits, your skills stopped advancing and started to atrophy. Are you ready for this?", radioed Blaze as he turned his Tigershark around to face the menacing silhouette of the twin-engined fighter ten miles away.

"Bring it on you second rate schmuck of a pilot, Blaze! I'll take anything you can dish out and give it back to you a hundred fold.", growled Simon as he reversed his direction and pointed the sharp nose of his Tomcat at the smaller aircraft.

Blaze sighed as he heard the note of cockiness in Simon's voice; the smartass still thought he could beat him. Switching his weapons system from missiles to guns, Thomas asked Simon if he thought he was good enough to take him on in a 'guns only' dogfight. Simon replied that if it decided who was the better pilot then he was all for it.

"Call the merge then, Simon.", stated Blaze as he checked his fuel gauges.

"Right side to right side, Blaze, I'm gonna show you how dogfighting is done.", crowed Simon.

In two of the other three aircraft in the air, the pilots frowned as they listened to their friend. Both Shin Kazama and Saki Vashtarl had the exact same thought.

_**"Mickey's about to get his ass thoroughly kicked by Blaze Thomas, hopefully it'll knock him off his high horse. He deserves this."**_

After landing at the base after her defeat, Kitori raised her cockpit canopy as she taxied her Hornet towards its revetment and shut it down. Kitori was disappointed and did her postflight checks slowly. She didn't want to talk to anyone at the moment with her loss to her instructors' husband weighing on her mind. Unfortunately as she lifted her head from inside the cockpit in preparation for dismounting her aircraft, Kitori caught sight of Kei Nagase-Thomas standing beside the nose of her aircraft. With slumped shoulders and a groan, Kitori climbed down the pilots' boarding ladder telescoping from its stowed position built into the left-side leading edge root extension (LERX). She really didn't want to talk to Edge now. When her booted feet touched the ground, Kitori kept her face pointed at her plane and waited for the silently observing eyes to go away before turning around and finishing up her post flight. It wasn't to be as Kitori felt the familiar grasp of her shorter instructor on her shoulder.

"Don't worry about the loss, Kitori, it happens in training. The outcome of your match was decided the minute my husband arrived in his Tigershark. There is no one in our world that can beat Blaze in a Tigershark. He's just that damn good. In a -20 I'm considered one of the top three pilots and according to Nastasya Bartlett, other pilots consider me to be the number one female Tigershark driver in the world. But you know what, in a consensus from fighter pilots all around this planet of ours, Blaze is considered _**THE**_ top Tigershark pilot. Even in the small, closely-knit community of exceptional F-20 pilots, Blaze is considered to be equal to and, in some cases, superior to the leader of the Razgriz, Razgriz One. In a one on one dogfight in Tigersharks, I can't beat my husband. I'm the best Super Hornet pilot out there, female or male and I still have trouble taking Blaze on when I'm in my Rhino and he's in his 'Shark. I trained you in this fighter and I trained you to be a better combat pilot. You, Baroness Palvanoff are good. The top ranked female Mirage F-1 driver in the world, yes we'd heard about you before you arrived. Baroness Kitori Palvanoff, the only female pilot at Area 88: deadly with the Mirage F-1 in any situation. You already had exceptional skills-as do all of your friends- I just polished them. Why do you think I took you through that island base your first day here, it wasn't to humiliate you, it was to discover the hidden skills you had-but didn't know about-buried deep within you. You lost to Blaze, my loving husband. Hold your head up high; you did damn good to last as long as you did. The strategy you planned out with Simon was good and would've worked in any other situation, Blaze just saw through it. He's always seen through things like that. Now come on, let's head to one of the conference rooms where you and I can debrief your flight. We're going to walk through everything you did and look at it in depth.", commented Kei in the most words Kitori had ever heard her speak.

Almost against her will, Kitori felt her flagging spirits lift. Nagase was right; she had nothing to be disappointed in. Kitori flew a helluva mission and fought a good fight. She'd kept the faith invested in her by her instructor: Major Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas, Osean Air Defense Force Reserves. Squaring her shoulders and lifting her head; Baroness Kitori Palvanoff, the betrothed of His Royal Asranian Highness Prince Saki Vashtarl; Heir Quaternary to the throne of Asran, followed the woman she considered to be a superior pilot and a good friend.

_**Back in the air.**_

Mickey Simon was starting to get a familiar sinking feeling. It was a feeling he'd long forgotten. Last time he'd felt this feeling, his Navy superiors-acting on orders from their superiors-had resigned themselves to the fact that there was no way they could win in Vietnam. He remembered the day well, the flight schedule had been significantly lighter and no sorties were planned into the North like they had been not less than thirty-six hours before. Simon remembered storming up to his operations officer and asking about the schedule. Ops had only referred him to the orders saying they'd came in late last night from somewhere a lot higher up the chain of command than him.

Simon had gotten so pissed he'd gone on a cursing jag all the way up to the flag spaces (where he was forcibly restrained by the marine orderly). From his position on the steel deck with the marine's knee in his back, Simon had called the admiral every name in the book before asking why. The admiral had leaned down on one knee and looked Simon in the eye and told him in a calm and quiet voice that there was nothing he could do except follow orders from his superiors. As Mickey lay there on the deck, he could've sworn he saw a tear in the old fighter pilot's eyes and instinctively knew that the old man was grieving as much if not more than he was about the pilots they'd lost. Understanding that even if he hated the orders himself, the admiral would-in an instant- order and possibly lead a massive alpha strike on every target in the Area of Operations if he could. Sighing to himself and letting the corporal who'd been holding him down yank him to his feet, Mickey had apologized profusely and the admiral had dismissed him with a wave of his hand. Simon had saluted the admiral, left the flag spaces, and had returned to his shared stateroom where he, his roommate, and a few other pilots from his squadron and the other squadrons aboard had proceeded to go through two bottles of Jack Daniels whisky. Late that night, a drunken Mickey had awoken from a whisky induced nap to a prolonged knocking on his door. He'd opened it with bleary eyes and saw the leather jacket clad person standing there with a harrowed look on his face. It had taken Simon a good five minutes to recognize the two silver stars on the owners' nametag. When he did, the first words out of the admiral's mouth were:

"You still got some of that whisky left, son? If you do pour me a drink and I'll get out of your hair."

Now, many years later, that feeling was back and stronger than before. It was a feeling he loathed:

That feeling of defeat.

Once they had commenced their dogfight, Mickey had watched as his every move was countered and turned against him. Every maneuver was brutally and effectively countered by the ace pilot in his smaller, nimbler fighter. Blaze was kicking his ass, big time. Mickey had watched as, even when he was at a disadvantage, the other pilot turned it in his favor. Granted, Mickey had his own flashes of brilliance that Blaze had complemented him on as they'd fought but they were few and far between.

Several times during this mini-marathon dogfight, Mickey could see Aba sneaking in trying to get a shot at the Tigershark on his tail. Kim's actions relieved the pressure on Simon and gave him a bit of breathing room but it never worked out. And one of those attacks, had lead to the Harrier ace almost getting a bellyful of paint rounds but Kim had used his new found VIFF'ing capability to evade and escape. Mickey had lit off after Blaze when the other pilot had decided to turn his attentions to Kim in an effort to help his friend out. That fight had been short and to the point, Kim had done a good job in evading Blaze but had forgotten that Blaze knew all about his ability and had trimmed the nose of his Tigershark to fly in a slight nose up attitude. When Aba had VIFF'ed again, Blaze had hosed him down with an arcing stream of paint rounds. A brief wave of acknowledgment to the younger pilot as he passed by, and then Blaze was back on the offensive as he bore head long towards Mickey's Tomcat. Steeling himself, Mickey turned to engage his opponent again.

In his Tigershark, Blaze could see that Simon was still up for battle although both had been using fuel prodigiously with their jaunts into and out of afterburners. Ian knew he was down to about twenty-two hundred pounds and figured that Simon had to have slightly more.

_**"He probably has no more than three thousand pounds left in his tanks and he knows it. I bet he's casting glances at his fuel gages everytime he starts to maneuver to avoid me. "**__, thought Blaze as he set up for another attack. _

Blaze had been a little surprised at Simon's skills, once he'd gotten over his initial outburst of anger and confidence. All during the battle, Blaze had been taking notes on Simon's abilities. Several times his overconfidence got him in trouble but his exceptional skills always managed to save his ass. Blaze was enjoying this match. It was pushing him almost to the limits of his skills without pulling out any of his special tricks. One thing Blaze had noticed though was that Simon would fall for the little traps he set every so often and get into an angles fight. He always managed to get out of it when Blaze was about to pull lead on him.

Glancing at his radar, Blaze saw that both Kazama and Vashtarl were awaiting their chances and observing his every move. Both were casually snuggled up to the big KC-10 Extender refueling aircraft twenty miles out at thirty-five thousand feet. They weren't tanking yet but Blaze knew that they were getting antsy. Deciding to see if he could sucker Simon into another angles fight, Blaze waited till the merge then pulled a move that went counter to everything every pilot had learned in basic Air Combat Maneuvering.

Instead of pulling up and climbing with the other plane, Blaze pushed forward on his stick and dove.

Every pilot watching this was astonished. This fool was giving the advantage to his opponent; practically giving Mickey the open and inviting shot at his tail. In the radar room, Kitori was dancing a little jig of happiness (her dance did wonders for her bust and many of the men in the room were paying more attention to her bouncing globes of flesh beneath her flight suit than to the radar repeaters screen), Kim Aba was looking smug as he heard the radio comments, and all of the Wardog contingent were groaning in exasperation. Bartlet and Snow were cussing up a storm at Blaze's stupidity while Mickey Simon couldn't believe his luck.

In all the jubilation or agony, only two pilots weren't thrown by the sudden movement of the Tigershark. Shin Kazama wasn't fooled because, unlike every one of his friends; Shin knew instinctively that Thomas wasn't one to give up that easily. He concentrated harder on the fight; here was something that could actually help him in his fight against Thomas. Blaze was opening his substantial bag of tricks. Shin called Saki and told him to pay attention. When the Prince asked why, Shin told him.

"This is where the real fight begins and ends. Within the next five minutes, Mickey is going to lose."

On the ground, Kei Nagase-Thomas sat back in her seat with a catlike grin on her face and crossed her arms over her chest. She knew what was about to happen. Edge had seen this move before and had even pulled it once with extremely limited success. Waiting for Kitori to finish her little dance, she called out to her.

"Don't Snoopy Dance yet, Baroness. I say within the next five minutes, Mickey's fighter is going to be wearing a lovely shade of pink."

The room went silent at her pronouncement. Even Nastasya Bartlett was looking at her kind of oddly. In all their experiences, not one of the gathered pilots had seen somebody win any dogfight after purposely showing their exhaust to their enemy. How could the so-called invincible, Blaze Thomas win this fight.

Up in the air, Mickey had a big grin on his face as he committed nose down. He had the bastard in his sights and a quick press of his trigger would end the legend of Blaze Thomas in lurid hues of bright green and yellow paint splatters. Mickey advanced his throttle forward wanting to get this done with quickly. He even began a descending turn to keep his target in sight and get a better angle on the smaller aircraft.

Over in the Tigershark, Blaze saw that Mickey had committed and was intent on ending this fight quickly.

_**"Come on come on! Ya know you want the shot with the maximum amount of time!",**__ thought Blaze as he watched Mickey's flight path._

When he saw the start of the slow spiral, Blaze mentally rejoiced. He had the cocky sonuvabitch where he wanted him. As the Tomcat got within gun range, Blaze gazed intently at the position of the wings on the aircraft with the variable geometry wings. When, he saw the wings start to come forward, Blaze risked a glance at his airspeed indicator and saw that he was dropping below three hundred knots. Yanking his throttles back to near idle and pulling back on his stick while simultaneously slamming the stick to the left and giving it a helluva lot of left rudder, Blaze neatly pirouetted the Tigershark around so that instead of being the prey of the Tomcat, it was its predator. Squeezing the trigger the instant the bigger aircraft filled his gunsight; Blaze milked three bursts of 20mm in Mickey's direction.

For those in the radar room or over in the radio shack, the emotion over the radio waves and the position of the fighters on the screen explained it all.

"GOTCHA!!", shouted Blaze.

"OH SHIT!!!", yelled Simon.

In the radar room, Kei leaned forward in her seat and relaxed with a knowing grin and looked at Kitori's crestfallen look. Across the room, Kei could see Marcus mentally reviewing the fight in his head and nodding as he realized what Blaze had done. The six four pilot glanced back at Kei with a questioning look and saw her answering nod. Kitori caught it and asked her instructor about it.

"Snow, since you realized what Blaze did, could you explain it to those gathered here since right now you're the resident Tomcat expert."

"Sure Edge. I will. It was a simple thing really. Kitori, Kim, Blaze just waited until Simon's speed dropped below three hundred knots. At or around that speed, the wingsweep computer of the Tomcat is automatically programmed to bring the wings forward. If you've flown around Tomcats for awhile, you can almost exactly tell what airspeed he's at by just glancing at the position of the wings. Now most Tomcat pilots also use this to their advantage. We know at or about what speed our wings are going to come forward and we also know that a good enemy can tell the same thing. So to fool our opponents, we use the wingsweep override switch. Depending on the occasion, it makes our enemies think that either we're taking a turn faster than it looks or we took the turn too fast and screwed up." , responded Snow in a teaching tone of voice.

It took a minute for Kitori and Kim to digest the information imparted to them but when it did, they nodded in an acceptance of their teammates defeat.

In the sky, Mickey Simon was exhausted. He'd just fought the best fight he had and he'd lost; lost to an exceptional pilot in an exceptional, yet under-looked plane. Undoing his oxygen mask and letting it drape haphazardly from the side of his helmet, Mickey realized for the first time that he was drenched in his perspiration. That dogfight had been one for the record books. Fifteen minutes of turning and burning, using fuel at a prodigious rate, and pulling every maneuver they'd learned, knew, or invented on the spot. As he thought back to the engagement, Mickey Simon cracked a weary grin. Even though he'd lost, the Area 88 veteran had loved it. Simon had enjoyed every minute of the exercise. Now he knew what Blaze meant when he explained to him that he was too cocky. Making a decision, Mickey made a radio call.

"Blaze, Simon. That was a good fight. Congratulations on your victory. I defer to your experience in this field."

"Simon, don't denigrate yourself like that. You did good, damn good. You forced me to open my bag of tricks. Not many pilots have done that. Take this as a learning experience. In our business, you can't take anything for granted. No matter how good you are or how good you think you are, there is always someone out there who is better than you. Keep that in mind, and lose the attitude when it comes to other pilots and your skills will take an exponential leap. If you don't believe me, just take a look at Palvanoff and Aba. In air combat, you're only restricted by your imagination. Now come on lets hit that tanker and land. We'll debrief these sorties and I'll rest a bit before heading back up to take on Colonel Vashtarl and Colonel Kazama. Besides, I gotta take a wicked leak.", replied Blaze with a chuckle.

The air waves were silent for a moment before they crackled with an unknown noise. Edge, Archer, and Swordsman looked at each other in confusion. It was Kim Aba and Kitori Palvanoff cleared the confusion up. They explained that the noise they were hearing was Mickey's laughter. When the light of understanding entered the eyes of their instructors-no their new friends- the radar room rung with the resounding laughter as the five pilots headed out to meet the two returning aircraft.

A few hours later, after debriefing Kitori, Kim, and Mickey on their actions in the air and receiving the reasons why the three did what they did, Blaze launched for his final two dogfights of this exercise evolution. As his Tigershark climbed to a safe altitude, Blaze thought about how each of the three pilots had bore up under the pressure of defeat and was impressed by the way they upheld their professionalism.

_**"I believe those three will make great instructors to pass on what they learned here to the other pilots of Area 88. With their teachings, the experience and skill of the pilots there should increase drastically. Once we get them up to Heierlark, teach them new ways of fighting the enemy, familiarize them with the equipment that their opponents will probably be using and the abilities of that equipment, Mickey, Kitori, and Kim will be better prepared to face any enemy: Ofnir, Grabaecr, or 8492.", **__ thought Blaze as he waited for his opponents to climb to altitude and head off in the opposite direction. _

Caging his thoughts and bringing his mind back to the present, Ian prepared for the difficult dogfights ahead. Calling Shin and the prince to see if they were ready, Blaze brought his plane around to face his two opponents. (In the interests of time, Shin and Saki had decided to make their flight against Blaze a 2 v 1.)

Thirty-five miles away, flying in a welded wing formation, Shin Kazama and Saki Vashtarl were debating strategies. Since all three fighters were full of fuel, this sortie could go for quite awhile as the three ace pilots jockeyed for position to gain the penultimate advantage on the other. Shin and Saki had the starting advantage because it was two of them against a lone pilot plus while Blaze had maybe a sidewinder and a sparrow left on his rails and maybe a hundred and fifty rounds of 20mm per cannon, the two of them had a full complement of missiles and cannon rounds. Shin and Saki could be prolific with their weapons load while Thomas could only hope to work himself into a position of advantage to use either his long-distance AiM-7E Sparrow or his short-range, heatseeking AiM-9N Sidewinder.

"We both know that his only advantage is to get us split up and engage us 1 v 1 and take us out each in turn. He only has two missiles and maybe a third of his bullet load remaining. I say we stick together and use our numerous advantages and defeat him with sheer numbers.", argued Saki as he and Shin set up.

"Yes we know that. But he also knows that would be in his best interest to split us up. However, we also know that Blaze is extremely unpredictable and may attempt to take us both on at once. Yes he has two missiles left, remember how he broke up the attack by Kitori and Mickey; he wasted a missile and prosecuted an attack on your cousin, who had the altitude and speed advantage, and took her out of the fight before turning his attention to Mickey. Then he only loosed a missile at Mickey to keep him busy while he went back at took Kitori out of the fight. Even with us sneaking in to provide a distraction for Kim so he could get close, Blaze defeated the guns run and turned his disadvantage into an advantage for himself. We'll have to play this one by instinct and be completely impulsive in our fighting.", replied Shin calmly.

Saki growled a bit to himself but saw the reasoning behind Shin's words. Blaze Thomas was an enigma, they couldn't fight him on regular terms; they had to get him dancing to their tune before he changed the music. There was one good thing going for both of them this fight though. No egos and emotions were involved in this sortie like they had been for the fight between an overly emotional Mickey and the cool, calm, and rational Blaze. Nodding for Shin to make the call, Saki tightened his harness, cleared his mind, and got ready for the intense action that was about to commence.

_**"It promises to be the most intense dogfight I've ever been in. Even though we're using exercise weapons, all three of us are going to take it as if it were the real deal. No altitude hard deck, no airspace restrictions. We can treat this as if it were a real dogfight. We can take it to the edge of the envelope and further. This is what fighter pilots live for; this is the dogfight all pilots dream of; This. Is. Our. Olympics!!! LET'S GET IT ON!!!",**__ thought Saki as a flicker of pride flowed through his body._

All posturing, and chest beating was done. It came down to this: The Best of Area 88 versus the Best of the O.A.D.F.

Forty-five minutes later, Saki Vashtarl watched as the familiar pink paint splotches that decorated the fuselages of Mickey, Kitori, and Kim, splattered against the fuselage of his Jaguar. For him, it had been a battle worthy of remembering. As the three jets had screamed towards each other in excess of fifteen hundred combined miles per hour, Saki's heart started beating triple-time. At the merge, all three had immediately pitched up into the vertical to try and gain the advantage. For the first few minutes after the merge, the advantage shifted between all three of them many times a second. Shin had gained the initial advantage because of his twin engines and topping out of his climb a few feet higher than either the Tigershark or the Jaguar. As they rolled out, Saki had seen Blaze ignore Shin at the top and concentrate his attention on him.

As Blaze pursued Saki while letting Shin drop in behind him, Saki led the three maneuvering fighters in the ubiquitous furball old-school dogfights were known for. As he and Shin worked in tandem to try and trap the lone pilot, Saki was able to hold a tracking solution for a bit and even launch a missile. Unfortunately, Blaze beamed it by dropping chaff and flares and peeling away from the AMRAAM at a ninety degree angle just outside of its seeker cone. Seconds later, Saki's RHAW gear went off as it reacted to the probing by the radar of the Tigershark. Immediately dropping countermeasures and breaking off, Saki saw that Blaze had feinted with his radar going for a lock on his SEPECAT Jaguar while Blaze himself went after Shin with a bone in his teeth.

At the forty minute mark, Blaze made what everyone thought was a mistake and held his right break past the time he should've reversed his turn as Shin popped off a Sidewinder near the limits of its range. No one noticed until it was too late that Blaze had intentionally held his turn for a purpose. Saki knew the reason as soon as the orange and white painted Tigershark passed him at Mach 1.2 and he saw the orange streak of the exercise missile heading in his direction.

Blaze had just suckered Shin into taking a rushed shot.

Maneuvering wildly to avoid the missile, Saki stumbled right into the gunsight of the Tigershark. Somehow, as he completed his pass on the Jaguar, Blaze had used the maneuverability of his Tigershark to its fullest extent and had swapped the nose with the tail and saw that Saki was breaking right into his firing arc. Saki saw the developing shot but couldn't do anything about it as he continued to evade the missile that had lost its lock on the T-shark and acquired his Jaguar as its viable target.

_"Awww shit!!", _called Saki over the radio as he successfully evaded the missile only to find himself being saluted by a hail of 20mm pink simu-nition rounds.

"Colonel Vashtarl, you're out of there. That was a good fight. See you on the ground, sir. We'll debrief this fight as soon as this exercise is completed. Colonel, you almost had me a couple of times. So far, you've come the closest to downing me on this exercise today; Happy Landings, colonel!"

"Thanks for the workout major. It was fun while it lasted. I can't wait for the debrief. See you on the ground", returned Saki as he broke off and headed back towards Sand Island.

Shin Kazama watched as the Jaguar containing his commander and friend broke away and pointed its nose in the direction of the base where the rest of their cohorts waited the results of this, the final ACM sortie of the training. He allowed himself a slight chuckle as the pink splotched aircraft glistened in the sun as it headed home. Taking a deep breath and checking his gages, Shin was a bit surprised to see that he had maybe three thousand pounds of fuel left in his tank. As he continued checking his instruments and psyching himself up fo the upcoming battle, Shin took stock of his armament and saw that he had maybe three Sidewinders, a full load of Sparrows and AMRAAM's, and maybe half of his gun rounds remaining. Glancing outside the cockpit at the afternoon sky, Shin saw that Blaze had brought the T-Shark alongside his Tiger II. The two similar but different aircraft inscribed an arc across the sky as they flew side by side. It was the type of formation that would go on a postcard if anyone in the area had a camera.

"Shin before we start this last sortie, let's hit the tanker and top off our tanks. That way we can go all out, balls to the wall and give everyone watching a show to remember.", called Blaze as he was going over his own cockpit instruments.

"Copy that. You wanna go first?"

"Negative, we can both fill-up at the same time. You wanna call the merge before we set it up?"

"Ahh, that's a negative. Let's do this with an altitude separation and go from there."

"Copy that, do you want the high position or should I take the high spot?"

Shin thought for a moment then decided that whoever finished first should have the altitude advantage and passed it on. His opponent agreed to it and that set the starting positioning. Shortly after that, the two planes snuggled up to the KC-10 Extender (who's crew would have a lot of stories to pass on to their buddies when they returned back to base with their B-767 (E-3 Sentry) AWACS partner orbiting at forty-five thousand feet about seventy-five miles away.)

Twenty minutes later, the two protagonists were ready. Shin's Tiger II sat at thirty-two thousand feet while his opponent was stooging around at about fifteen thousand feet. Kazama was a bit miffed and figured that Blaze had purposely delayed his connection with the tanker so as to give the Area 88 pilot the obvious altitude advantage that could be converted into an airspeed advantage as the Tiger dove down like an avian raptor diving for its food. Shin checked everything to make sure he was ready for this. All his switches were in the correct position, no infernal red 'you-gonna-die' lights flashing on his instrument panel, altitude, weapons, etc; all were in their ready position. His radar was in active search mode and was continuously probing the sky for the telltale signature of his opponent.

"Shin, you ready for this?", came the call.

"I was born ready, Blaze. Are you ready for it, is the question."

A friendly chuckle was heard over the radio.

"Well if I'm ready and you're ready, then let's do this. _Fights On_!"

And with those words, Shin advanced his throttles to their max power setting and dropped his nose. As his aircraft screamed towards the nose of the ascending aircraft in full burner, Shin offered a prayer up to his friends who weren't there in person but were there in spirit.

Boris, a fellow Crusader pilot who taught him about being the Shinigami of Area 88; Smiley, the Skyhawk driver with the ear to ear grin as he gave a puppy a bath before falling victim, mentally, to the MiG-23 Flogger D with the lizard on its nose. Greg, the gruff, bearded Skyhawk veteran who always came back no matter how many times his bird was damaged and always went back out. Gustav, the mechanic who, with his own crew, fixed every bird at Area 88 whether it is in pristine condition or a total wreck. McCoy, the greedy bastard who always had everything a fighter pilot needed, for a price. Shinjou Makoto, the photographer who originally came to an isolated base in the middle of nowhere to take a picture of the death of the lone Japanese national, and for his wife, Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama, for waiting patiently for him to return home so they could be married. The one who always worried about his safety the most but always pushed him to go out fly and fight to protect their fellow Area 88'ers.

Down below, the mind of Blaze Thomas was following in a similar vein. The two planes merged on the radar screens being watched and the fight was on. Everyone knew it was going to be one for the ages.

Blaze checked his fuel level again and noticed with some alarm that he was done to about fifteen hundred pounds of fuel. As he calculated the time remaining before his tanks went dry, the Tigershark driver knew that his opponent had a fuel level just as low if not lower than his own. Their battle had been waging for almost an hour. Neither of them could get a clear advantage over the other and both had pushed themselves to the limit and then some.

Blaze didn't have to look at his weapons status to see what he already knew. He was out of missiles and had less than seventy-five rounds left for his cannons. Glancing across his cockpit to the left, he saw Shin circling around trying to pull lead. Blaze figured that since he hadn't seen a missile drop off of Shin's jet in the past thirty minutes, the ace pilot had to be down to just his cannons.

_**"So here we are, almost Winchester and no clear advantage in sight. If we keep this up, he'll be on my tail within two more circles. And with my low fuel level, I can't do much to evade or escape. Think genius, what are you going to do in this situation?", **__thought Blaze as he used the spare second to flex his hands and get the blood flowing to his extremities again. _

On the other side of the Lufbery Circle, Shin was thinking the same thing as his opponent was. However, being a tad bit more observant than the other pilot, Shin saw Blaze's aircraft straighten out a bit before resuming its bank in an effort to get behind him. Correctly guessing that the other pilot had taken his hands off of the controls, Shin dropped his flaps to tighten his turn and pull his nose around quicker. When he straightened out, there, right in front of him was Shin's quarry just outside of the max range of his twin cannons in the nose of his F-5.

"_**I got you now, Blaze"**_, thought Kazama as he increased his speed to close the range.

Blaze returned his hands to his stick and throttle and looked around to see what his opponent was doing. Blaze's mouth dropped as saw that Kazama had regained the advantage and was closing in fast. Pushing his throttles to the max and knowing that it took a second before the influx of fuel gave him the power he needed, Blaze knew that as soon as he was in gun range, Shin would fire and riddle his plane with dark purple paint. Keeping and eye on the other aircraft, Blaze ran through idea after idea in milliseconds while trying to find the strategy that would help him bring the fight back to a neutral level. None of the ideas would work in the amount of time he had left. Yet in the back of his mind, Blaze remembered a maneuver made by a pilot in the same predicament as he himself was in now. Unfortunately, the maneuver was brutal and could possibly strain the airframe beyond its limits. What made matters worse, is that Blaze had only heard of this move being discussed but never demonstrated.

"Well it's the only move I have left. There's nothing else left to do except see what happens.", mused Blaze as he tightened his harness and prepared for whatever was coming.

Casting a look behind him and seeing that Shin was just entering gun range and would start shooting in seconds, Blaze took a deep breath, said a silent prayer, and cut the power. As his aircraft started to slow, Blaze pitched the nose down for a second then immediately yanked it back into his stomach and shoved it to the right. At the same time, he was adding power and stomping on the right rudder pedal with all the force he could manage.

In his aircraft, Shin Kazama watched with an increasing sense of glee as he bore down on his persistent and expert opponent. There was no way, no fucking way, Blaze could out maneuver him and avoid the barrage that Shin was milliseconds away from releasing. Licking his lips and gritting his teeth, Shin started to pull the trigger…..

…..only to gasp in horror as the aircraft he had been so diligently stalking and setting up for this moment went out of control and started to back flip. For the first time in his flying career, Shin froze as he just knew the pilot of the aircraft in front of him was about to die.

If anyone was watching, they would have been completely astounded as the F-20 Tigershark being piloted by Blaze Thomas flipped end over end as if it was out of control before returning to a level plane of flight with one main difference, the fighter that had been pursuing Blaze, the F-5E Tiger II flown by Shin Kazama had just gone from hunter to hunted in a matter of seconds. For Blaze, one moment he'd been looking at nothing but the blue sky ahead of him, the next, the ground and sky violently reversed themselves as his aircraft did a maneuver thought to be so impossible that it was only discussed and never demonstrated.

As his eyes steadied themselves, Blaze gazed forward. There, well within his gun range sat Shin Kazama who was just now starting to realize what had just happened and started to break out of the firing cone of Ian's aircraft. Gently squeezing the trigger on his stick, Ian felt his fighter vibrate for a bit then stop. A quick glance at his counter confirmed his suspicions: the pair of M-39 20mm cannons situated in the nose of his aircraft had just spat out their last rounds.

Major Ian 'Blaze' Thomas of the Osean Air Defense Force was Winchester. He had no weapons left.

However, his last few rounds had done their job. The F-5E Tiger II of Shin Kazama was riddled with great big splotches of a hideously bright pink paint from the side of his number two engine all the way out to the end of his right wing. In his cockpit, Shin Kazama felt the severe thumping as the paint hit and knew in his heart that if those rounds had been real, his number two engine would be holed like Swiss Cheese.

Shin called his opponent over the radio.

"Blaze, what did you do? I can't explain what I saw. I'll have to watch my gun camera recordings. That was a good fight. Let's knock it off and head for home."

"Copy that, Shin. I don't know about you, but I could use a long break. I have a package for his highness from Razgriz One. After we land and go through the debrief, I'll pass along the message."

"Copy that. See you on the ground, major."

"Same to you, Shin."

Two hours later, Blaze had debriefed both Shin and Saki about their progress in the exercise and the trio were headed to the galley to grab some life-giving food to replenish their energy reserves. As they entered the galley, the rest of the Area 88 contingent was waiting for their two aces to arrive with their Sand Island counterpart. As they sat down with their plates of food, Blaze reached into one of his pockets and pulled out a familiar black envelope with a red border and the seal of the Razgriz on the front and passed it to the prince. Vashtarl accepted the envelope, opened it and proceeded to slide the familiar parchment paper inside from the envelope. Like before, there were only four lines of flowing calligraphy centered in the middle of the thin parchment sheet.

"_**The Demon Soars through Dark Skies,**_

_**Fear and Death Trail its Shadows Beneath.**_

_**Until Men United Wield a Hallowed Saber,**_

_**In Final Reckoning, the Beast is Slain.**__**" **_

Saki read it once, then read it again before passing it to his pilots. Each of whom wore a confused expression on their face. Looking questioningly at Blaze Thomas as he took another bite of his thick Porterhouse steak, Vashtarl asked what it meant. Before he received his answer, Saki watched as the major finished chewing and swallowed his bite before turning to the five person group and giving them some news.

"It means pack your bags, you guys are coming north with us."

"North with you? What do you mean by going north with you, major.", replied a still confused prince.

Blaze was about to answer when Colonel Bartlett cut in. He'd entered the galley with his wife and the rest of Wardog just before Saki had asked his question.

"What it means, your highness, is that you, your cousin 'Desert Rose' Palvanoff, 'Wildcat' Simon, 'Merlin' Aba, and Shin 'Enigma' Kazama are flying north to the lair of the Razgriz to make your request to all four members of the Demons of Razgriz. Oh yeah, as you've probably just realized, we've come to a consensus and given each of you Area 88 guys a callsign. So from now on, Colonel Vashtarl, you're hereby known as Saki 'Doc' Vashtarl to us.", Bartlett said with a grin on his face as he placed the box he was carrying on an empty table and started passing around what was inside.

When he received his package from the colonel, Saki looked on in awe as he opened his box to reveal a spare helmet done in vibrant colors with his newly given callsign painted on the front right above the face shield. Quickly glancing up and around at his pilots, Saki saw that each of them had been given the same kind of gift he'd been given and the quartet were admiring their new helmets.

"You can thank Blaze and his cohorts for the callsigns. Many had been tossed around by those guys but they picked-and my wife and I agreed-that the names you were given fit each of your personalities perfectly. Now I hope you and your people can rapidly pack because in thirty-six hours we're flying up to Heierlark. To have you and your pilots fit in up there, you'll be introduced as guest instructor pilots. So your people will have to wear the standard olive green, winter weight flightsuits of the O.A.D.F. to blend in. You and your people will be assisting my pilots in their classes and you may be given classes to teach on your own. While you're there at Heierlark, you'll also be familiarized with the possible equipment our enemies will be using. Do you think you and the rest can blend it with our instructor cadre?", asked Bartlett as he watched Vashtarl try on his new helmet.

"Yes, we can do it. I'll pass the word to my people once we return to our quarters later tonight. Now, I think its time for one helluva party.", replied Saki with a grin.

Bartlet returned the prince's grin with one of his own and held up a bottle of expensive Scotch and two glasses. Saki accepted and the two veteran pilots-and their people-proceeded to get extremely drunk.

**Heierlark Air Force Base. Ten Days Later.**

Shin Kazama walked rapidly across the Heierlark ramp towards one of the buildings where the classes he was helping instruct were held. Bundled up warmly in an insulated grey flight suit and wearing a thick parka with an Asranian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel's insignia on the collar of his jacket, Shin considered himself to be fairly warm. Unfortunately, the wind was howling and snowflakes were started to flutter to the ground.

Before coming to this lonely, frozen airbase in the mountains of Nord Osea, Shin had figured he was pretty well used to cold weather. That impression lasted all of five minutes the first time he exited the building without wearing a jacket. Five steps into the weather and the former Crusader pilot was dashing back into the building to where Major Thomas stood holding a cup of coffee with a humorous grin on his face and a thick jacket in Shin's size. Shin had grumbled his thanks before accepting both the jacket and the coffee before braving the elements a second time.

Entering the building, Shin mused on how both the prince and his cousin were taking to the extremely cold weather. With his usual stoic expression, Saki faced the weather head on and handled it with an élan only he could carry out. Only someone who had known Saki for as long as he had and could read his face like Shin could; would be able to tell that the prince was freezing his ass off. In Baroness Palvanoff's case, her reaction to the cold weather was even more severe. Every morning when they woke up to attend the classes they were assisting in, Kitori would bundle herself up in several layers of clothes and scamper to the warmth of the crew shuttle van that ran the instructor pilots from their barracks area to the main building, out to the hangers, and back every twenty minutes. Even though the building where the classes were being held was a spirited seven minute walk away. As many of the senior instructors chuckled at Kitori's antics, many of the junior instructors try to hit the exotic woman up for a date.

Today, the plan called for Shin to assist Blaze with a class of exceptional cadets in picking the airplane they were going to specialize in after graduation. The class was being held in one of the hangers and Shin was running late. He had to turn in a report on the capabilities of the MiG-29 Fulcrum he'd been assigned to study so he could provide a detailed intelligence brief for his comrades back at Area 88. Dropping the thick folder off with the junior officer assigned as Colonel Vashtarl's secretary for the duration of their stay, Shin made his way past several classrooms.

Recognizing the voice of Kitori Palvanoff floating through a closed door, Shin stuck his head in and saw Kitori standing at a blackboard in front of a class of female students while lecturing about some point or another that he couldn't quite make out. From the satisfied smile on the face of the baroness, Shin could tell she was having a blast with her instructor duties. Giving a quick nod to Kitori as she noticed his head peeking through the open door, Shin caught her acknowledging nod and continued with her lecture without missing a beat. He still had someplace to be and he was already running late.

Fifteen minutes later, Shin arrived at the designated hanger where Blaze was teaching. He'd inadvertently interrupted a class being taught by Kim Aba (wearing the bars of a captain in the Asranian Air Force) and Major Grimm. Quietly opening the door, Shin entered the classroom and took a seat in one of the chairs in the last row as he listened to Major Thomas give his lecture.

"…..today, you young pilots are about to take one of the biggest steps in your fledgling careers: choosing the fighter you want to specialize in. Gathered behind me are several examples of some of the fighters the O.A.D.F. and O.M.S.D.F. use. Some are carrier-based and some are land-based. Your job is to make a choice. Now most of you have probably already made your decision on what you want to fly. Before you place your top three choices on the sheet of paper in front of you, I want you to walk around this hanger and study each of these aircraft. Put your hands on them, sit in them, and get the feel of these aircraft. Don't just go to your favorite and pick that one, check them all out. Sometimes maybe you'll find that your choice will change. Let me tell you the story of how I got hooked on flying the Tigershark.", Shin heard Blaze say.

Leaning back in his chair, Shin continued to listen as Blaze stopped for a minute to take a sip of water before continuing:

"One day many, many years ago, before the war, I was sitting where you are sitting now. I had had my eyes set on flying the Tomcat, the Hornet, or the Eagle. However, my instructor at the time told me the same thing I'm telling you today. I went and placed my hand on each of the three fighters and I felt nothing from them. It confused me because those were the fighters I wanted to fly above everything else. Figuring that I wasn't meant to fly one of my top three choices, I went around to every fighter in the hanger and yet I couldn't feel anything. I couldn't feel the spirit of the planes. It just so happened that my instructor just happened to have a spare Tigershark parked in the hanger, however, nobody went near it. I saw the lone aircraft and to me it seemed lonely by itself, so it was with great trepidation that I approached it and placed my hands upon its cool fuselage. As I placed my hands on that aircraft, I felt a shock. It was as if the plane knew I could take it to its limits and then some. My heartbeat sped up and I just knew that this was the plane I was going to fly and master. You may laugh at this story now, but I tell you, among the planes in this hanger; there is one plane that will be such a fit to you that you'll wonder why you never thought of flying it before. So class, go ahead and walk around, see if you can feel the vibe from the planes gathered in front of you. Let me know what you think. If you have any questions, you can ask either me or Lieutenant Colonel Kazama and we'll try our best to pass on the information you desire. Oh yeah, for those of you who are curious, you can ask colonel what was the first fighter he flew and the story how he happened to chose it. Now go ahead and enjoy yourselves. Check out the planes, make your decisions, then come back and fill out your sheets with your choices.", Blaze finished as he watched his students get up and make their way over to the planes gathered behind him.

Taking a seat on the corner of the desk, Blaze observed his class as they walked around the gathered planes and making their choices. He didn't turn around when Kazama came up to the desk and sighed. Glancing at the veteran pilot out of the corner of his eye, Blaze saw the contented smile on his face as he observed the students himself.

"Well, Colonel Kazama how many of my fledglings do you think will pick the Tigershark, sir?", asked Blaze as he crossed his arms,

"I don't know Major Thomas but I believe you inspired them to not pick the obvious with your story. Shall we go mingle and be prepared for the questions we know will be coming?", replied Shin, as he stuck to the charade that he outranked Blaze Thomas to keep the cover story right.

Blaze nodded and got up from his perch before stretching and letting Blaze take the lead as the pair made their way over to the gaggle of students making their choices.

**Mess Hall; later that same day.**

Kei Nagase and Kitori Palvanoff sat at the senior instructors table in the mess hall chowing down on their lunch for the day. Their class of women had finished up forty minutes before lunch and the two pilots were taking a break before they flew a training sortie against some of Ian's chosen Valkyries. Edge was telling Kitori her duties as she rode in the backseat of the F/A-18F two-seat Super Hornet that was being prepped by the flight line crews.

"How do you think Davenport and Sterling are going to do today, Kitori? You think they'll learn what you were teaching in the classroom earlier?", asked Kei as she took a sip from her coffee.

"I don't know, Kei. Maybe they will and maybe they won't. You told me that Blaze has been personally training some of them so in the long run, they might get what I was trying to explain to them.", answered the baroness around the corners of her cheeseburger.

The two women went quiet as they thought about the women in the classroom who would be following their footsteps and hoped that none of them had to actually participate in an actual live dogfight for the remainder of their careers. As they sat and mused on other things, the pair saw Hans Grimm and Kim Aba entering the messhall after their class. Archer and Merlin went through the cafeteria-style line and picked up their lunches (four slices of sausage and pepperoni pizza for Archer. Fish and fries with a side of peaches for Merlin). The young pilots grabbed their drinks and made their way in the direction of the table for the junior instructors. Kitori could see that young Kim Aba was fitting in with the other instructors pretty well and was actually performing real well as a teacher. Like Shin from this morning, Kitori had occasionally stuck her head in to Aba's class room and listened to his lectures given in conjunction with pop quizzes.

**Airborne over Heierlark Base. Same time.**

Captain Marcus 'Swordsman' Snow (he'd reverted back to his naval rank when he returned to Heierlark in preparation for transferring out to the _Kestrel II_ in order to fill the admirals' wishes) and Commander Mickey 'Wildcat' Simon were flying an A-6E Intruder around while keeping an eye on their students as they tried dissimilar formation flying. Sitting in the seat usually reserved for the bombardier/navigator (B/N), Snow was cursing up a storm and trying to give directions to the nuggets as they formed and reformed a ragged formation with the different types of naval aircraft available to the Osean Maritime Self Defense Force. Activating the intercom switch, Snow turned to Simon and complained.

"Jeez, these kids are not doing that well. I know the weather is bad but they need to learn proper foul weather join ups and formations. They're a few weeks away from graduating from here and shipping out to their respective squadrons. This chafes my hide. I know I've been gone for awhile but in my absence their flying has gotten sloppy.", grumbled Swordsman.

"Chill out and give those youngsters a rest, Snow. They're doing the best they can. Since I've been here, the weather has been triple uber dogshitty. I'm surprised that these advanced kids are flying in this crap."

Snow nodded in agreement but knew that, with graduation a couple of weeks away, these fledgling tailhookers needed to get it right. Sighing to himself and receiving another weather forecast over the radio, Snow called it and canceled the exercise.

"Students, the weather is too crappy today to do this formation join up. I want you to find your wingmen and set up for an instrument let down. Keep your spacings and keep your heads on a swivel. We don't need a Fox 4 (mid-air engagement/collision) today. You guys copy?"

"Raindrop Flight copies."

"Stormchaser Flight copies."

"Mousetrap Flight copies."

"Good. Stormchaser Lead, since your flight is probably the lowest on fuel, your signal is to Charlie now and pack it in. Mousetrap and Raindrop Flights follow in order. Observer One will land last. Make sure you nuggets land without cracking up your birds. We'll debrief in lecture hall 7-Charlie. See you guys on the ground.", said Snow as he finished his conversation with his student flight leads.

In the left seat of the durable all weather bomber, Mickey listened to the radio over the next several minutes as each trainee landed safely and finished their postflight checks. When it was time for them to land, the weather had taken a turn for the worst and the rest of that afternoon's flight schedule was scrubbed. Mickey got his landing clearance and made his turn to final approach. Marcus was giving him the speed of the wind and its direction as well as other necessary useful information. Everything was looking good till seconds before touchdown; a rogue gust of wind caught their Intruder and shoved it sideways by about six feet.

Then all hell broke loose.

The all weather attack plane touched down in an uneven posture and bounced from main mount to main mount as the nose gear was coming down. As soon as his nose gear slammed onto the concrete, Simon yanked his throttles to idol and jammed on his brakes. Unfortunately, the plane was still going a bit fast for the action and the nose gear broke off, slamming the Intruders' nose on the icy ground hard and causing it to commence a spin to the right as it sped down the runway while reducing speed. The crash crew vehicles rolled the minute they saw the nose mount break and arrived at the stricken aircraft seconds after it had stopped.

Inside the plane, Mickey and Snow were running through their emergency checklists at a calm but rapid pace to insure that everything was either disconnected or shut off so that a fire wouldn't break out. Snow hit the canopy release button but the Plexiglas cockpit canopy wouldn't budge. The Swordsman swore at the new problem.

"Mickey, the canopy's jammed and if we're not careful we'll suddenly find ourselves riding the rocket seat while trying to get out of this bird."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. It looks like we'll have to jettison the canopy.", yelled Mickey as he yanked the throttles all the way to the rear of the throttle quadrant.

"Don't talk, just do it!", shouted Swordsman as he prepared for the sudden chill as the canopy was jettisoned.

Mickey nodded and yanked on the lanyard that detonated the explosive bolts that would cut the canopy loose from the airframe. That was a loud pop and the jammed canopy went vertical. As the canopy was whisked away by the strong winds, the two pilots struggled to get out of the harnesses attaching them to the Intruders' ejections seats. They were having a hard time until an agile ground crewman clambered up the nose of the stricken aircraft, around the protruding air-to-air refueling probe, and used his utility knife to slash through the straps of the harness and freeing both pilots. Before Mickey and Marcus could climb out of the cockpit the crewman leaned forward over the remnants of the canopy bow and cut the gas lines leading to the ejection seat rockets with a pair of heavy bolt cutters passed up to him by one of his emergency crew teammates. Once that was done and the ejection seats rendered useless, the crewdog assisted the two pilots out of the cockpit and into the hands of the emergency med crews before jumping to the ground.

Both Simon and Snow thanked the young man before they were ordered into the back of the field ambulance by the on duty flight surgeon. They protested the orders but the young doctor wasn't having any of that and had his two biggest orderlies take a menacing step towards the pilots as a warning. The two combat veterans meekly submitted and climbed into the waiting ambulance under their own power (much to the disappointment of the orderlies). Within seconds of their taking their seats inside the boxy vehicle, the ambulance was speeding towards the base medical clinic with its siren singing its song.

An hour or so later, Mickey and Marcus were released from the clinic after a battery of tests to see if they had any injuries from their wild ride. The two pilots upon their release immediately headed for the main building for a thorough debrief and a few doctor prescribed shots of medicinal brandy.

**Three Weeks Later. 2000 Hours. Graduation Reception. Heierlark Base Main Auditorium**

Area 88 Mercenary Shin Kazama looked around the reception hall at the crowd of new Osean Air Defense Force and Osean Maritime Self Defense Force pilots and their relatives as they celebrated their graduation from Advanced Flight Training. For many it had been a rough three years of dealing with the extremely tough weather at Heierlark but the newbies had persevered and were now reaping the benefits. Brushing an imaginary piece of lint from his borrowed Asranian Air Force Lieutenant Colonel's Dress Uniform, Shin gazed at the happy faces of the graduates. He saw His Royal Highness Prince Saki Vashtarl conversing with a few of the graduates and their parents. Saki was wearing the uniform of a lieutenant general in the air force of his country with his many decorations and subtle insignia indicating his status as Heir Quaternary to the Asranian Throne. By his side was his cousin and fiancée Baroness Kitori Palvanoff attired in an Asranian Colonel's Dress Uniform also decorated with her medals and insignia indicating her status as a Baroness. The blonde pilot chuckled when he saw the discomfort on Kitori's face as she again tugged at her uniform skirt.

"Ah, Kitori doesn't like to wear skirts. That is understandable. It is a pity though, she's a very attractive woman.", mused Shin as he took another sip from his glass of champagne.

Continuing his observations, Shin saw Mickey and Kim chatting with each other. To Shin it looked as if Mickey was trying to goad the younger pilot into going and talking to an extremely attractive young lady who made no bones about her interest in the teenager. Shaking his head and letting his gaze wander around the room, the blonde saw Captain Snow and conversing with an older man in navy dress whites and wearing the four silver stars of a full admiral. From his vantage point, the conversation looked semi-casual. Shrugging his shoulders again, Shin continued his search for the person he was looking for.

_**"Now where is he? Where is Blaze Thomas? I see his wife. She's over there talking to Colonel Bartlett's wife while the colonel is talking to Pops. Where in the hell is Major Thomas, I wanted to talk to him and get his thoughts on what the Razgriz will do."**__, thought Shin as he decided to make his way around the room and mingle with the guests. _

In a hallway outside the reception, a man in a midnight black dress uniform waited for his guest with his arms crossed. Twenty-four hours before, the pilot of Razgriz One had returned to Heierlark after a special request conveyed to him by Colonel Vashtarl by way of Jack Bartlett. It had been the typical milk run for most of the flight to and from the secret air base deep inside Asranian Territory to retrieve the princes' special guest until five minutes from landing when the awful weather had caught the executive transport jet and tried to slam it into the ground. If it hadn't been for his exceptional skills behind the controls of any aircraft, Razgriz One and his passenger would have been nothing but a smear on the tarmac.

The slight tap of a high-heeled shoe on the linoleum floor pulled the pilot out of his musings and he straightened up to his full height as his guest made her appearance. The pilot looked at the ethereally beautiful executive with interest before remembering what his wife would do if she caught him staring at another woman. Offering his arm to the guest of the prince, he inclined his head respectfully before speaking.

"Are you ready ma'am?"

The woman nodded enthusiastically, not trusting her voice to allow her to speak in a comprehensible tone. The pilot grinned beneath his black balaclava and approached the closed doors of the reception hall at an easy pace.

Inside the reception hall, Colonel Jack Bartlett clasped the hand of his wife as he returned to her side after his conversation with Pops. The grandmaster aircraft mechanic was a bit concerned about Blaze's latest request concerning newly graduated First Lieutenant Alina H. Davenport. It wasn't that Jack was concerned about the decision; the woman was an able pilot and just about equaled her late father in skills. Nor was it the fact that Blaze had made the request during the graduation speech given by Colonel Vashtarl. What concerned the senior pilot was the fact that Blaze had requested the particular aircraft he did.

The aircraft in question was one of the most closely guarded secrets of the O.A.D.F. Not even Bartlett's wife knew that sequestered in a far corner of the Razgriz Aircraft Hanger were five MiG advanced tactical fighters. Codenamed _Wyvern_ the five fighters were the first offering of the next generation variable winged fighters. More advanced than the F/A-22 Raptors currently in the O.A.D.F. inventory, the _Wyverns_ were undergoing extremely classified testing at Heierlark and were rarely brought out into the open. The only time they were flown was late at night when all four of the Razgriz pilots were in residence AND when all of the student pilots were either asleep or away from the base.

The _Wyverns_ were that classified.

Shaking his head to collect his thoughts, Bartlett's attention was caught by a flash of black he caught through the windows in the reception hall doors. Recognizing the visible eyes, Jack subtly caught the attention of Saki Vashtarl and jerked his eyes to the doors to let the prince know that his very special guest had arrived. Saki nodded and gave a slight grin before gently disengaging from the conversation he'd been ensnared in and making his way to the dais at the front of the room. Jack followed a few steps behind in a roundabout path.

Making his way to the lectern with his glass of champagne, Saki looked around for his ace pilot and caught sight of the quiet man in the lieutenant colonel's uniform as he listened to a student who was introducing his parents to the guest instructor. Smothering a grin that had his cousin confused, Saki gently tapped his glass with the edge of a handy fork. The slight chiming of the crystal drew everyone's attention to the front of the room and several conversations in progress halted as those gathered wondered what the prince had to see. Saki waited a moment before speaking as he saw the black attired pilot enter the hall with his requested guest to the oblivion of those gathered. Gazing around the room, Saki caught the subtle surprised reactions from the Wardog contingent and the confusion from Simon and Aba as they caught site of the new arrivals. Aba opened his mouth to draw the attention of Saki's primary subject but was stopped by a hand over his mouth from Major Grimm. Hearing his cousin cough behind him in preparation to speak, Saki casually stepped on Kitori's foot. Muttered floated to his ears and he knew that the baroness would berate him later. Saki didn't worry; he had a pilot to surprise. Clearing his throat, Saki spoke into the microphone.

"Lieutenant Colonel Shin Kazama. Front and Center."

Behind his trademark poker face, Saki rejoiced at the confusion that flitted across Shin's face as he wondered what the hell was going on and why his commanding officer was calling him to the front. The pilot placed his glass on the table and made his way to the front of the reception hall and stopped five paces in front of Saki and saluted, his confusion still subtly evident on his face.

"Lieutenant Colonel Kazama reporting as ordered, highness.", replied Shin.

Saki returned his salute and started to speak. It soon became obvious to those who knew him well that Saki was stalling for time. When he saw that his guest was directly behind his target, Saki finished his short speech.

"Colonel Kazama, the other day I made a request to Colonel Bartlett on your behalf and he informed me that he would pass my request on to his people. Yesterday, the colonel informed me that my request had been carried out and that my special guest would be arriving today. It is with great honor, colonel that I introduce you and all those gathered here on this momentous occasion to my special guest. I would like to introduce Mrs. Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama."

Saki chuckled to himself at the look of astonishment that flashed across Shin's face at warp speeds. The prince's chuckling got louder as a pair of small and delicate glove clad hands reached up from behind his ace pilot and covered his eyes. Saki's number one mercenary pilot was in such a state that he almost didn't react when the light pink hair of his spouse came into his line of sight.

Shin was stupefied. His wife Ryouko was here! As the prince's special guest! He was about to say something when something covered his eyes and a familiar scent wafted into his nostrils. Inhaling deeply, Shin gently removed the obstruction over his eyes and looked down into the soft blue eyes of his Ryouko. As Shin realized that the beautiful pink haired woman in front of him was indeed his wife, a million thoughts sped through his mind and he wondered how Ryouko had gotten to this isolated base. Those thoughts were answered when Shin's eyes caught sight of the masked man in the black uniform standing to his left and in that instant he knew that the Demon King had flown to Area 88 to pick up his wife so she could be there to celebrate the graduation with him. Turning to the man with a look of extreme gratitude on his face, Shin effervescently thanked Razgriz One for bring his beloved. The pilot responded and Shin again recognized the fact that the pilot was disguising his voice. Yet there was something there that sounded familiar to Shin and he couldn't place it. Mentally shrugging his shoulders, Shin returned his attention to his wife and together Shin and Ryouko Kazama made their way to the prince and to Colonel Bartlett and thanked them both for doing this. Turning around and facing the applauding crowd with his wife on his arm, Shin reveled in the praise and honor being heaped on his by the graduates and students.

At their own table off to the side of the reception hall, newly graduated and promoted First Lieutenants Alina H. Davenport, Kimberly Carson, Cindy Decker, Brittany Sanderson, Nadine Fredericks, Daniella Sterling, Kindra Ostenhaus, and Nicolette Waters sat and toasted each other and their fellow graduates. The eight women had been looking forward to this day for the past few years and planned to totally enjoy it. At the moment, they were sipping on the celebratory champagne and watching the gathering at the front of the room where Instructor Kazama was introducing his wife to the other instructors. While the attention of her seven tablemates was on the gathering, Alina's attention was centered on the masked man in the black uniform trying to be as inconspicuous as possible. Davenport knew-as did all of the graduates-that the man in the black uniform was the most respected and feared pilot in the entire world: The legendary leader of the Ghosts of Razgriz.

In her two years of training, Alina had seen him around the base on occasion. He was usually testing different aircraft or observing the other instructors as they taught a class in the hanger. Each time she saw him, she was too far away to see his face and Alina guessed that it wouldn't matter anyway because he kept his balaclava on when he wasn't wearing a flight helmet. The closest she'd ever been to the legendary pilot was in one of the lecture halls where he was giving a lecture. Alina had known that the hall was going to be packed and had managed to grab seats for her and her friends in the second row in front of the speakers' podium. As usual, the man kept his face covered and used a device to change his voice the entire time. Then had come the night Pops had found her outside the barracks remembering her father.

She'd had a rough day that day and was depressed about a test she'd taken and not done so well on. Later that afternoon, her mom had called and reminded her about the date. It was late that evening when she'd heard what would turn out to be the Razgriz departing the base and Pops had stumbled over her. When the legendary squadron had returned, Alina remembered talking to Colonel Bartlett and he'd told her that her father had flown with the Razgriz before he'd died. She'd missed her chance to talk the Demons that night. Now the leader of the squadron was ten yards away from where she sat and Alina was dammed if she was going to miss out on this chance to find out about her father.

Telling her tablemates that she'd be right back, Alina had risen from her seat and started making her way to the black uniformed pilot. Alina was no more than five steps away from her target when her mind recognized that her name had been called. Tuning back in, Alina gasped. The colonel was requesting her presence at the front of the room.

"First Lieutenant Alina Harriet Davenport, front and center."

Growling her displeasure, Alina hurried up to where Instructor Kazama had been a few short minutes before and reported to the colonel standing behind the podium.

"First Lieutenant Davenport reporting as ordered sir.", Alina replied while saluting.

Jack Bartlett gazed intently at the young woman in front of him with her new silver pilot's wings gleaming on the breast of her uniform and again stamped down the uneasiness within him. He didn't agree with what Razgriz One was doing but felt that it wasn't up to him to contradict the pilot in front of the graduates. Taking a breath, Jack began to speak. No sign of his disagreement in his voice.

"Lieutenant Davenport, you've been called to the front of this gathering to receive a singular honor. This honor has never before been bestowed on any graduates in the years since the war. This is such an honor that only the person responsible for it can bestow it on you. Therefore I turn this podium over to him.", stated Jack as he stepped away from the podium as he became aware of the person approaching from behind.

Turning to face the wraith, Bartlett nodded to the man as a collective gasp rose from the crowd and an astonished look came over the face of the young lieutenant standing in front of the podium. Everyone knew or guessed that this was a moment they didn't want to miss.

The leader of the Demons of Razgriz was going to speak.

As he approached the podium and stood behind it, the leader of the Razgriz pontificated that he could've heard a pin drop in the silence. Looking at the young woman in front of him, he couldn't help but see some aspects of his old wingman's face in hers. Clearing his throat, he began to speak.

"First Lieutenant Alina H. Davenport, I want to congratulate you on your graduation from flight training. From what I've gathered from your instructors, specifically Major Blaze Thomas who couldn't be here tonight on this special occasion, you've become one helluva pilot; just like your old man Lieutenant Colonel Alvin H. 'Chopper' Davenport. I wish he was here today to see the pilot you've grown into. Chopper was a good friend of mine and a good wingman. His death was a blow to all of us. Earlier today, I talked to the rest of the Razgriz and made a suggestion. They thought about it for a minute before agreeing to my suggestion. Since today is the day the rest of the squad and I honor your father; I invite you; First Lieutenant Alina H. 'Banshee' Davenport, to fly with us tonight. In addition, I also would like you to, just this once, use the callsign 'Razgriz Three'. The Razgriz and I decided to bring your father's callsign out of retirement for you to use on this most special occasion."

The audience exploded into gasps of astonishment and conversations started up almost immediately but Alina didn't hear them, she was in shock as the implications of the honor she was being given became apparent. Tonight she, Alina Davenport-daughter of one of the most famous pilots in history, was going to fly with her father's squadron AND she was going to be able to use his callsign. Alina felt as if she was going to faint. The feeling was so strong she almost missed it when her idol, Major Nagase appeared by her side with a midnight black flight jacket. Razgriz One was still speaking and Alina brought her attention back to him.

"…. At the moment, Major Nagase is presenting you your father's flight jacket to wear tonight in his honor."

Alina accepted the soft jacket reverently and gently ran a hand over the dark grey and red patch on the left breast with its red embroidered number '3' on it. Closing her eyes and holding the jacket to her nose, Alina smelled the faint scent of her father. It was as if this jacket was linking her to him over the years. Feeling the tears welling up in her eyes, Alina didn't react when Major Nagase leaned in and told her that it was okay to cry. She knew exactly how Alina felt.

"He was a good man, Banshee, a good man. Your father was a good man and a damn good pilot. Don't let anyone tell you anything different.", Edge whispered in Alina's ear.

Alina opened her eyes and gazed up at the masked man standing at the podium and let her eyes ask the question she wanted to voice but was afraid to. Seeing his nod to her unasked question, Alina unzipped the jacket and prepared to slip her arms into its warmth. Before she could, she felt hands gently lift the coat out of her hands. Turning around to see who had the gall to do such a thing, Alina saw that Razgriz One had came down and was holding the jacket up so she could slip her arms in to its waiting sleeves. As the soft fabric was drawn on to her shoulders, a familiar voice echoed in her ear.

"Wear this jacket with pride, Davenport. Chopper would've wanted you to have it anyway.", came the voice of Chief Instructor Major Blaze Thomas.

Jerking her head around at the voice, Alina tried to see where her favorite instructor was. The only person she saw was Razgriz One. Confused, she looked at him. He winked at her and something slowly began to dawn on her. Before she could say anything, Alina saw Razgriz One give a quick shake of his head. Major Nagase quietly spoke in her ear again.

"You've just became privy to a very well kept secret, Davenport. Don't tell anyone that you know who Razgriz One is. Since its still a few years until our identities are released with the records as requested by former President Harling, us Razgriz members would prefer to remain anonymous for now. And before you ask, yes I am one of the Razgriz, as are Major Grimm and Captain Snow. Now turn around and share the honor you've just been given with the rest of the room."

Alina nodded as her mind made since of what she'd just learned. Turning to face the crowd behind her, Alina unconsciously zipped her father's jacket up to the applause of the crowd. Shaking hands with the leader of the Razgriz, Alina made her way back to her seat, accepting the accolades of her fellow graduates as she went. Still a bit in shock, Alina sat down. The minute she did, her friends gathered around her, gushing with pride and praise while admiring the jacket.

"Wow!" - exclaimed Brittany Sanderson.

"You get to fly with the Razgriz! Tonight! You're so lucky!" - sighed Nicolette Waters.

"Your father was Chopper Davenport?? Why didn't you tell us??" - stated Cindy Decker.

"That jacket looks good on you, 'Lina." - gushed Kindra Ostenhaus.

"What did Major Nagase tell you?" - questioned her best friend Kimberly Carson.

Not even trying to answer the questions and statements from her friends, Alina just shook her head and reached for her glass but put it down when she realized that she was going to be flying that night. Mentally grumbling to herself, Alina didn't acknowledge the glass of fruit punch that appeared in front of her at first. She only looked up at her benefactor when she heard the baritone of Captain Snow as he passed by her table.

A few hours later, the reception was starting to die down as tired graduates and their families made their way out of the reception hall to the front of the operations building. Many of the guests were staying in the V.I.P. quarters on base while others flying out on the passenger jets they flew in on. Shin and Ryouko Kazama were looking out the window at the gaggle of planes and quietly talking when the prince came over.

"Shin, Colonel Bartlett just informed me that since your wife is here, you don't have to stay in the barracks tonight. You can stay with your wife in the quarters set aside for her.", stated Saki as he slowed to a stop.

"Yes sir. Ryouko told me about those quarters earlier. But I want to be here when the rest of the Razgriz arrive.", replied Shin.

"Shin, we all want to be here for them. But for now, go spend some time with your wife. You have seen her since we left so many months ago. Go be with her. Jack assured me that he'll send somebody to get us they arrive. After I leave here, I got have to go and get in touch with his majesty, my father. Hopefully it that won't take so long and I can get some rest before meeting the rest of the squadron. You need to do the same."

Shin started to protest again but saw the look in Saki's eyes and-more importantly-saw the look in Ryouko's eyes and relented. He nodded and watched Saki return his gesture and head off towards the door. As he observed the prince, Shin's eyes caught sight of a figure in a black flight jacket surrounded by a small group of first year cadets six months away from their own graduation. Recognizing the figure as the specially honored graduate, Shin made his way in her direction. He'd seen a look of realization on her face when the Razgriz Leader had put the jacket on her and wanted to ask the new lieutenant some questions. Before he could get halfway towards Davenport, Shin felt a large hand on his shoulder and turned to face his (obviously slightly intoxicated) Tomcat flying friend.

"Shin, ole buddy quit ignoring your wife. She's waiting for you and from the look on her face; she's got something real good planned for you. Don't worry about Davenport, since she's gonna be flying with them tonight, you'll see her then and you can ask her whatever it is you want.", Mickey slurred slightly as he wrapped an arm around Shin's neck.

"But…but…but…", started Shin only to be cut off.

"Whatever it is, it ain't that important. Now go other there to your wife and reconnect. I'm gonna go over here and see if I can get Captain Snow back to drinking some more scotch! I bet him he couldn't drink me under the table. He said he could but he'd have to show me another night. For some odd reason he's not drinking. Oh well. I can still try and get him to drink more. Talk to you later my friend."

Shin grumbled good-naturedly but allowed Simon to convince him to be with his wife. Besides, Lieutenant Davenport had disappeared with her friends. Shrugging his shoulders and thinking that maybe Saki and Mickey were right, Shin allowed his Ryouko to drag him to her room. He later admitted to himself that Mickey was right.

Ryouko did have something planned for him and, oh boy, was it good.

**Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama's V.I.P. Quarters. Heierlark Base. 0117 Hours.**

Shin Kazama blearily opened his eyes as his subconsicousness recognized the noise coming from the front room as somebody knocking on the door. Carefully disentangling himself from the arms of his wife Ryouko, the multi-ace made his way across the bedroom to go answer the door. He was halfway there when he realized that he wasn't wearing anything and backtracked to the bedroom to throw on a pair of shorts.

Now properly semi-attired, Shin answered the door. At the door was an unidentified yawning junior officer who informed him that he had been sent by Colonel Bartlett to let the Area 88 party know that the rest of the Ghosts of Razgriz had arrived. Shin was to put on a spare flightsuit and meet the rest of his friends on the first floor to wait for their ride to the hanger. Shin thanked the man and said he would be there. The officer nodded and went on to inform the others.

Closing the door, Shin returned to the bedroom and turned on the light. As he did so, he saw that Ryouko was awake and sitting up in the bed with the sheets to her naked chest. The look in her eyes told him that she'd heard the junior officer and knew that he would be leaving in a bit.

"I don't want you to go, Shin but I know that you need to be there. More than that, you want to be there to meet these pilots. I hate the fact that I can't change your mind about meeting. All I can do is hope that you give them a chance to make a favorable impression.", murmured Ryouko quietly.

Shin saw the unshed tears in her eyes and mentally cursed to himself. He hated seeing his wife cry and he hated the fact that he was the one who'd brought the tears to her eyes this time even more. Opening the closet to grab a flightsuit, Shin fought a battle within himself. He wanted to meet these pilots. Meting them would be show him that being away from Ryouko these past few months wasn't in vain. Conversely, reuniting with his wife after this time made him want to throw it all away. He was about to whisper an apology to his wife when he saw a small, light grey flightsuit hanging next to one of Ryouko's heavy coats. On a whim, he reached in and grabbed the flightsuit before turning around. A grin was in his stormy blue eyes.

"Come on, let's both go and meet these pilots.", he said.

Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama leapt out of the bed and ran to her husband and pressed her bare breasts against his uncovered chest and crushed her lips to his. He wanted to share with her the one thing he loved almost as much as he loved her. The blue of the sky he flew in.

"Yes, let's both go meet these pilots, my love. Lets meet them together.", whimpered Ryouko as she felt his strong arms reach around her body.

Reading the look in her eyes, Shin let her flightsuit fall to the floor and carried her back to the bed. There was still a few minutes before meeting with the rest of the Area 88 contingent.. They'd spend it in each others arms.

**Women's Barracks. 0120 Hours.**

Alina H. Davenport quietly looked around the room as she got dressed. Her roommates lay passed out on the floor of the room. After returning to their barracks together, Daniella had reached into the back of her closet and pulled out a couple bottles of her private stash of booze and they had a small graduation party of their own. None of the other seven girls would let Alina take a drink as they partied in celebration and soon her friends were down to their skivvies after a few toasts and games.

The revelry had halted for a few minutes when Major Nagase, Lieutenant Colonel Bartlett, and Colonel Palvanoff had dropped by to pass on their congratulations and to share a drink with the eight women before continuing on to the quarters of the other female graduates. Alina guessed that Major Grimm, Captain Snow, Commander Simon, Captain Aba, and Colonel Vashtarl were doing the same. She'd asked Major Nagase about her husband and where he was but Edge had demurred and told the gathered women that they'd see him later. Her roommates had all said okay and let it drop before going back to their party while Alina had caught the subtle look of warning in Major Nagase's eyes. Nodding back at the warning, Alina watched as the three older women left the room. A few hours later, she'd nodded off listening to her friends talk about their personal lives (She'd learned that both Nicolette and Nadine had crushes on the young Harrier guest instructor from Asran).

Quietly stepping around the reclining forms of her roommates, Alina quirked an eyebrow at the sight of Ostenhaus and Decker asleep in each others arms. She knew that both had boyfriends back home but it was an odd sight to see. Reaching the front of the room, Alina sat down to put on her flight boots. Once they were on securely, she picked up the jacket given to her and looked at it before putting it on and heading to the door. As she quietly turned the knob to open the door, Alina heard a soft cough. Looking behind her, she saw that her best friend Kim Carson was giving her a look of pride. She nodded and continued out the door.

Walking down the hallway after closing her door, Alina made her way to the common area. Entering the vast room and gazing around, Alina saw that several of her junior classmates had gathered at the table to study and had fallen asleep. Going over to a nearby closet, she opened the door, took out several blankets, and draped them over the sleeping women to keep them warm. Gazing at them and remembering her time in their place, Alina headed towards the main door. Approaching the door that would lead her out into the cold, Alina saw a jeep pull up and sit idling quietly at the stop for the shuttle bus. Bracing herself for the cold and opening the front door, Alina headed out into the night.

As she approached the jeep and opened the door, Alina looked across at the figure sitting in the drivers' seat. The moonlight allowed her to see that her driver was a woman and she surmised that Major Nagase herself had come to pick her up for her flight. She was vindicated a few seconds later as her driver spoke and handed her a cup of hot coffee.

"Here you go Banshee. This oughta help you warm up.", came the soft voice of the most decorated female in the entire O.A.D.F.

"Thank major. I needed this.", replied Alina.

"Call me Edge, you've graduated and this isn't a formal setting. You're not a student anymore, you're one of the sisterhood. Be happy that you made it."

Taking a sip of her coffee precluded Alina from answering so she nodded her head. Edge looked at her once before shifting the jeep into drive and pulling away from the barracks. It took Alina five minutes to realize that her driver was bringing her to the most secure hanger on base. She turned her head to face Edge and let her eyes ask the rhetorical question.

"Yep, that's where we're going. You are going to be the first and only student to see what is kept in this hanger."

Alina felt her excitement rise as Major Nagase pulled up to the guardhouse and spoke to the heavily armed guard. Soon the gates opened and the jeep pulled through and headed for a parking spot at the end of the building. Alina climbed out when the engine was shut off and just stood there in awe as she waited for her escort to grab her gear from the back of the jeep.

"Don't forget the rest of your flight gear, Davenport. You'll need it."

Alina nodded as she turned to the back of the jeep and saw that her former instructor had stopped by the student P.E. room and grabbed her flight gear before picking her up. Shouldering the bag, Alina followed Edge to a steel personnel door and waited while the shorter woman knocked. The door opened and Alina followed Nagase into the waiting warmth of the hanger. Looking at the walls of the narrow passageway, Alina saw the many different awards the squadron had received. At the far end of the hallway, Alina saw what she recognized as the port side of an F/A-35 Lightning II fighter. The thing that caught her attention was that it wasn't in the usual low-vis grey she was used to.

It was midnight black.

Going through the door into the main hanger proper, Alina's mouth dropped as she took in the mural painted on the wall. After a minute, she turned to her escort with a questioning look on her face. Before she could ask, Edge answered.

"Yes, Alina H. Davenport; that is your father: Alvin H. Davenport, in his prime.", stated the instructor pilot quietly.

Alina looked at the painting in shock, taking in the facial features she'd only seen in family pictures when she was younger. For five minutes, the young woman stood there before becoming aware that they were not alone. Bringing her gaze down from the picture, Alina saw another figure in a black flightsuit approaching a locker against the far wall. Again looking at her escort, she saw Nagase indicate for her to go ahead. Slowly and with trepidation showing in each step, Alina walked across the hanger and made her way to the locker. Stopping a respectful distance away, she saw another picture of her father. This time she could tell it was a casual picture as evinced by the boyishly roguish grin on his face as he sat on a couch and leaned back against the wall.

Edge saw Alina strong reaction to the photo and gave her a small push. Alina stumbled forward and used her hands to catch the top of the locker. Looking down and noticing that there was no lock, Alina looked up questioningly. Seeing the blank face of Major Nagase, Alina felt her hands slowly, achingly making their way to the latch to pen the locker. When it was open, she saw that there was a black flightsuit with the number '3' hanging from a hook. Next to that hook was a missing space where she correctly surmised the jacket she was presently wearing used to hang. Shifting her attention to the shelf at the top of the locker, Alina's breath caught as she saw the scorched flight helmet and noticed the dark brown patches. Against her will, her hands slowly reached for the helmet. As they made contact with the hard plastic shell, a jolt passed through Alina.

"That is the helmet your father wore on his last mission. When the rescue crews recovered his body, he was still wearing that helmet. I had the rescue crews to return his helmet to Sand Island where Pops took care of it until the end of the war. Before we had to flee Sand Island, Pops had the helmet flown to Heierlark and placed in the safe in Colonel Bartlett's office. Every time we come here, we all stop by this locker and remember your father.", came the voice of Blaze Thomas from off to her right.

Alina turned to her former chief instructor and looked at him with unshed tears. She made as if to ask a question but he beat her to it.

"Go ahead. We'll leave you alone. Meet us over at by that Typhoon when you're ready.", continued Blaze as he took his wife's hand and led her away from the grieving pilot.

Alina watched them walk away before turning back to face the locker. Closing her eyes and putting her hands together, Alina mourned the pilot.

_**"Well dad. I made it. I'm a fighter pilot now. After two long and hard years I made it. I wish you could see me now, I know you'd have been proud of me to get this far. In my time here, I've met some incredible people, my roommates, my instructors, your old flight lead and wingmen, all of them. Even though I didn't know you that well, I grew up hearing about my father, one of the best damn pilots in the air force. Each time during my stay here when I felt as if I was ready to quit, I thought of you. Those thoughts helped me continue, even if only for a little bit. Now I'm at the pinnacle of my success and I consider myself extremely lucky. Major Thomas and the others are allowing me to fly with them tonight using your callsign and wearing your jacket. I don't know what I'll be flying but whatever it is, I'm going to enjoy it. From this day forward each time I climb into a cockpit, I'm gonna imagine you are there with me, sharing the sky, our sky. I love you dad, and I miss you. One day in the future all of us will be reunited in place far better than this.", **__thought Alina as she opened her eyes and looked at the picture on the locker. _

Years later when she spoke to her children and grandchildren, Alina would swear up and down that as she looked at the picture of her father, it winked and gave her a carefree grin.

With one last lingering look at the picture of her father, Alina made her way over to where Major Nagase and her husband stood. As she approached, the two turned to her and grinned. In that grin, Alina could see the love the two shared with each other so openly. It was there in the tableau as Edge leaned against the EF-2000 Typhoon with her hands demurely behind her back while her husband leaned his shoulder against the plane and devoted his full attention to his wife. Chuckling to herself, Alina fantasized for a moment before coming back to the present.

"Davenport, tonight, we're going to fly a fighter your dad didn't get to fly. There are only five in the entire world and all five of them are here. Follow us and let me introduce you to the fighters we'll be flying tonight.", said Blaze as he came to his feet and started to walk around the aft fuselage of the delta-winged Typhoon.

Minutes later, Alina was standing with the rest of the Razgriz (who included, much to her surprise Captain Snow and Major Grimm) in front of an angular, twin-tailed fighter. Blaze was speaking.

"This, my friends, is the _Wyvern_; the next generation of variable-geometry wing fighters. The Wyvern is extremely fast and very well armed. It has the usual 20mm cannon mounted in the root of the starboard wing. I know that with everyone's experience in aircraft identification, you can see that the Su-47 Berkut and the X-29 FSW is somewhere in the Wyvern's family tree as you can tell by the reverse-swept wings. I bet you're wondering why this aircraft is so secret. I can't tell you right now but you'll find out as we fly. Since we're on a slight schedule and the Area 88 crew should be arriving shortly, I want everyone to go ahead done their G-suits and harnesses. Archer, Swordsman, Edge; you three know the routine. Your balaclava's are in your lockers. Banshee, since Colonel Vashtarl and his people know your face already you don't have to wear a hood. Edge will help you strap in to your Wyvern."

"Yes sir.", responded Alina.

Blaze grimaced and told her that she didn't have to call him sir since it was an informal setting and she was a part of the air force now. He did remind her to call him either Razgriz One or Razgriz Lead when the colonel arrived. When she nodded her understanding, Alina allowed, him to lead her to the Wyvern with the number three on its vertical stabilizer where Edge was waiting for her. Watching Blaze as he departed to talk to Pops about something or another, Alina did a preflight walk around her mount for the evening. Not seeing the approval of Edge Thomas, but knowing it was there nonetheless, the young graduate made her way up the boarding ladder after strapping into her g-suit and torso harness. Climbing into the ejection seat, Alina donned her helmet (she'd returned her late father's helmet to its resting place and closed the locker) and helped Edge make sure her belts were tight. When that was done, Edge gave her a gentle slap upside the helmet and climbed down the boarding ladder and made her way over to her own Wyvern. Taking a deep breath, Alina gazed at the painting of her father on the wall one last time before psyching herself up for this flight.

**Jeep Outside Razgriz Hanger. Heierlark Base. O230 Hours. **

Colonel Jack Bartlett glanced over at his wife sitting in the passenger seat of the crew van with a stubborn look on her face. In her lap was their sleeping daughter, Anastasia. Yuktobanian Intelligence Lieutenant Colonel Nastasya Bartlett was miffed. She'd woken up to find her husband trying to sneak out of their quarters to take Colonel Vashtarl and his contingent to the Razgriz Hanger for their introduction to the legendary pilots. When she asked if she could join him, Jack had said a hasty no. When he said that, Nastasya's sense of intelligence was peaked and she figured that he was trying to keep something classified from her. Even though The Osean Federation and the Union of Yuktobanian Republics were allies and usually shared information, there were things that both countries tried to keep to themselves.

Nastasya and Jack had gotten into a brief argument that was only stopped when Anastasia woke up and started to cry. The intelligence officer had sent her husband into the nursery to get the baby back to sleep (Jack was better at that than she was) and proceeded to put on a set of fatigues and boots. When her husband had reentered the sitting room and seen her sitting there fully clothed and waiting, he'd fumed before going back into the bedroom and picking up their daughter and dressing her in a warm outfit and placing Anastasia in her mothers hands before leaving their quarters and heading down to meet the Area 88 contingent. When they reached the front of the building, Nastasya had fought to smother a laugh as she saw Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama standing next to her husband in a light grey flightsuit tailored for her small frame. The look on Shin Kazama's face was one of quiet determination and Nastasya heard her husband sigh as he recognized the stubborn look on Kazama's face as well as the looks of futility on the faces of his comrades.

Bringing her attention back to the present when Anastasia shifted in her arms, Nastasya saw that their van had arrived at the hanger and her husband was gesticulating to the guard in the guardhouse to go ahead and open the gates. The van pulled in to the high security area and Jack pulled up next to a jeep parked in the front of the building. Nastasya heard Jack mutter something to himself before he shut off the engine. Zipping her jacket up and making sure that her daughter was bundled up; the head of intelligence opened her door and exited the van. Standing next to the vehicle, she saw the sliding doors of the van open and the six Area 88 guests pile out into the crisp air.

Jack looked at his gathered audience and snorted to himself. He knew that Blaze and Pops were going to be a bit perturbed at his wife for being there but ultimately would let it drop. It was their reaction to the arrival of Ryouko Kazama that was going to toss everything out of whack. Pops was going to have to hustle to get one of the two-seat aircraft in the hanger prepped for the flight and Jack didn't know which of the Razgriz two-seaters was going to be able to be used. Sighing to himself, Jack decided to let things play out and he'd flow with it. Placing his hands on his hips, Bartlett began his short speech.

"Alright, listen up you guys. Behind me is the most secure facility in the entire world. This hanger has more security than anywhere else in the world. You've probably noticed the heavily armed guards here. Those guards have permission to use lethal force to ensure that this hanger is never breached by unauthorized personnel. Consider yourselves extremely lucky to be able to see inside this hanger. This hanger is also a shrine to a deceased pilot so be respectful. Once you're inside, I request that you never tell anyone what is contained behind these doors. I can't tell you what will happen if you because I don't know myself. So please consider yourselves warned and no writing reports about the equipment contained herein, Nastasya. Now that all that legal and important stuff is out of the way, welcome to the lair of the Ghosts of Razgriz.", growled Jack as he opened the personnel door and headed inside.

There were a few grumbles from both Baroness Palvanoff and Commander Simon but they were silenced with a look from his highness. Jack started up the small hallway and explained to his guests the history behind the squadron. Shin noticed that the colonel didn't mention the names of the pilots as the group made their way to another door at the far end of the hallway that opened up into the hanger proper. Once the group entered the hanger, the first thing they saw was a mural of the five Razgriz pilots, four of which had their faces covered with a tarp so that their identity could be kept. Saki glared at Bartlett as he saw the tarp and wondered if they were ever going to find out the identities of the pilots. Colonel Bartlett was going to great lengths to keep those identities a secret from Saki and his pilots. Before he could comment on it, Saki saw the colonel walk towards a row of lockers against the wall and stop in front of one. He remained there for a few seconds before heading in the direction of a lounge area.

Remembering what else the colonel had mentioned, Saki realized (as did the rest of his pilots) the locker was a shrine for the Razgriz to honor their deceased member. Stopping a respectful distance away from the locker, Saki inclined his head and muttered a short prayer for the soul of the deceased before lighting one of the incense sticks. Glancing inside the locker before he stepped away, the colonel saw a black flightsuit hanging from a hook and a scorched flight helmet sitting on the shelf.

After all of the Area 88 crew had paid their respects, they found the planes that they'd been assigned. Much to Bartlett's relief, his old friend had switched out the EF-2000 Typhoon he'd originally had for Kazama to fly for a spare F-111 Aardvark. Soon everyone was settled and waiting for the big double doors of the hanger to open.

In the cockpit of his Wyvern, Blaze was having a scrambled conversation with Edge, Archer, and Swordsman. Davenport and the others were locked out of the communications loop for the moment. Blaze figured that Colonel Vashtarl was doing the same thing as he was.

"Should I let Davenport lead us out or should I just keep the lead?", he asked his teammates.

"We should do this the same way we always do. There's no sense in changing everything up just for Chopper's kid.", replied Archer as he glanced at his instrument panel.

"Archer, you gotta take into account the fact that she's being given this honor to fly with us. We should go ahead and let her lead us out for takeoff but let you lead us over November City. That way, this would be something she would remember for the rest of her life. The one time she was allowed to fly with us and use the Razgriz tactical callsign. I wouldn't begrudge her that. Besides its her father we're honoring.", returned Edge.

Blaze didn't say anything and just listened. He knew that ultimately it was up to him and his wingmates would back him up regardless of his decision. Sighing to himself, he made his decision.

"Okay, here's what we're gonna do. This will be our usual honor flight. I'll lead it till we get to November City. There I'll turn over the lead to her and I'll peel off as we form up for The Missing Man Formation. That way, everything will be just about normal.", started Blaze before Swordsman cut in.

"No, you lead the formation as usual. Let her do the maneuver. Like Edge said, it's her father we're honoring so what's better than letting her do the actual honoring. That way, she gets the best of both worlds.", voiced the carrier pilot.

There was a slight silence after Snow's statement but eventually everyone concurred with the decision. Now all Blaze had to do was pass on the information to Davenport. A few minutes later the group of airplanes was taxiing out of the hanger and towards the runway. Once every aircraft was in its correct position for takeoff, Blaze glanced around at the fighters to his sides and saw that his closest friends were ready; he gave the command that they'd been waiting for.

_"Razgriz, Launch!"_

Five hands in five different cockpits advanced their throttles to the sops and released their brakes and five advanced fighters stormed down the runway two at a time before activating their afterburners and streaking into the air. Behind them, five more airplanes taxied into position at the end of the runway and waited for their turn to take off. Blaze listened to his radio as his fighter climbed to a safe cruising height and heard Colonel Vashtarl give his people the command to takeoff.

_"Zero-Zero Section, Launch. Once airborne join up with the Razgriz, we'll be under the direct command of Razgriz Lead."_

Leading his flight in a circle so that the Area 88 pilots could join up, Blaze waited until the formation was ten aircraft strong and issued his next command.

_"Razgriz,, Zero-Zero Section. Altitude Restriction canceled"_

And with that, ten pilots yanked their control sticks to their stomachs and went ballistic. Over in Wyvern Three, Alina Davenport felt a spiritual presence wither in her cockpit and smiled at the moon. In her mind she knew that no matter where ever in the world she was, her father would always be with her. Pushing her throttle to the stops, she followed her fathers squadmates into the night sky.

A couple of hours later, Jack Bartlett heard his pilots returning to the nest. He grinned to himself as he listened to each pair of engines as they made their final approach. Looking out towards the far end of the runway, he saw the landing lights of the first aircraft and recognized them as the Lightning II being piloted by Kim Aba followed by Baroness Palvanoff, Mickey Simon, Saki Vashtarl, and the Aardvark carrying Shin and Ryouko Kazama. Once those five planes had taxied in to the hanger and shut down, the group waited for the first of the Razgriz pilots to land. First came Razgriz Five, followed by Four, then surprisingly by Razgriz Two, and Razgriz One before Davenport landed in Razgriz Three. Bartlett figured that Blaze had given the honor of landing last to Davenport because he wanted her to feel a certain link with her father.

Once all of the planes were in the hanger, Bartlett met up with Saki and his crew and escorted them to a lounge area and bade them to take their seats. Telling the group that the Razgriz pilots would be there shortly, Bartlett left them to their own devices while he went to ask the Razgriz pilots which fighters they would be taking. He found them holed up in one of the hanger offices. When he entered the room, Jack found out that Edge had asked Davenport to wait in the Razgriz locker room. Jack turned to Blaze as he took off his helmet and lifted his balaclava.

"Are you accepting this mission?", asked Heartbreak One.

"Jack that was a stupid question, of course we'll help them. We decided that shortly after they arrived at Heierlark with us. We've just been discussing which planes we're going to take. As you can guess, Snow wants us to take the Razgriz Tomcats, Grimm prefers the Razgriz Eagles, while my lovely wife would appreciate it if we took the Razgriz Hornets. I've already made my decision but I know that they are gonna balk.", replied Blaze as he looked around the room.

Jack knew the discussion that would come. Each pilot would want an aircraft to showcase their own expertise. Yet since they were a team, they knew they had to fly the same plane. Crossing his arms over his chest, Bartlett gazed around the room at the subtly stubborn looks on everyone's face. Leaning against an available wall, Bartlett waited for the outcome of this discussion. It wasn't long in coming. Surprisingly, there wasn't much argument about the chosen aircraft when Blaze announced it.

"We're taking the F/A-22's everybody. The Wyverns are out because they're top secret. The Eagles, Tomcats, and Rhino's are out because of the fact that for the three of you, your separate and disparate flying styles are complemented by those aircraft. The Tigersharks are out because of the same reason. So it has to be the Raptors. The Lightning II's aren't fast enough, though they would match up well with what the enemy is flying. I would've chosen the Typhoons' since they are fast, well-armed, and extremely maneuverable, I just feel that we-as the Ghosts of Razgriz-would make a better statement with Raptors than with Typhoons; especially in the 'Beyond-Visual-Range' envelope. I know that most of our fighting and flying is going to be up close and personal, I just want the advantage that the Raptors/AMRAAM give us.", stated Blaze with a finality.

Everyone thought about it for a moment before agreeing to the decision. Propping up his wall, Bartlett approved of the choice. If he was the one going to Asran and had a choice of fighters to use, Jack would take a Raptor in place of his beloved Phantom and Tomcat any day of the week. Of course his next choice would've been either a Hornet or a Falcon, but he wasn't the guy going to fly, fight, and possibly die for another country.

_**"Since they're going to be mercenaries, I bet the money's going to be damn good where they're going. And with their individual skills, they could make a lotta tax-free cash to put away for a rainy day.", **__mused Bartlett as he watched the four legends conceal their faces for their meeting with the Area 88 contingent. _

Shin and Ryouko waited with the rest of their friends in the lounge area Bartlett had directed them to. In his mind, he was running the possible identities of the mysterious pilots he was about to meet, yet no matter how much he denied it, the identity of the one known as Razgriz One could only be Major Blaze Thomas. Shin hadn't told anyone of his suspicions yet because he wasn't completely sure of that point and it was sticking in his craw. Leaning back in his seat with an arm around his wife, Shin pondered his dilemma as he watched the others. Colonel Vashtarl was conversing with his cousin in the corner about some miscellaneous point or another. Both drank from mugs of warm coffee as they chatted. Kim Aba was gazing at the framed aircraft photos that were situated around the room while Mickey absently flipped channels on the television as he waited for Bartlett and the mysterious Razgriz pilots. As for his wife, Shin looked down and saw that his darling beloved was resting her head against his chest and yawning. Shin didn't particularly care for Ryouko being up this late but he knew she was as determined as he was to meet the people who'd kept her husband away from her for nearly six months.

Shin's musings were interrupted as the door opened and the four Ghosts entered the room. With their faces covered by the ever present balaclava hoods and their ominous black flightsuits, they were quite a sight. Behind the four came Colonel Bartlett and his wife followed by Pops and the graduate who'd been given the honor to fly with those who'd flown with her father. Rising to his feet, Kazama made his way to Vashtarl's side. Deciding to ignore the lead pilot since he'd already met him before, the top scoring pilot of Area 88 cast his gaze on the other three pilots. Already, his mind was buzzing as he cataloged the images of the legends made flesh.

The lithesome figure and fluid movement told Shin that Razgriz Two was a woman. He could barely make out the feminine curves underneath the flightsuit but they were there. Razgriz Four walked with the remnants of the awkwardness that Shin was noticing was evident in Kim Aba's demeanor that signified a man recently out of his teens and entering his early to mid twenties. Razgriz Five walked with a swagger all his own as he towered over his wingmen by at least three inches. The confidence radiating from him told Shin that he was an older pilot, possibly in his mid thirties. There was something else there that took Shin a moment to realize but when he did, he cast a sideward glance at Mickey and noticed that the American had noticed the subtle trait as well. Razgriz Five was a member of the elite fraternity of pilots who catapulted off the pointy ends of aircraft carriers.

The four legends came to a stop in the center of the room before the leader spoke.

"Double Echo, The Razgriz and I have discussed the situation you face and the request you make and have come to a decision. The four of us will help you face the enemies your comrades face. We'll fly missions with your pilots as well as train them in the tactics used by your enemy as well as new tactics to prevail in the aerial combat arena. We'll also help your supply personnel by shipping in whatever you need to keep your Mercenary Air Force flying. That assistance includes brining in new aircraft for any pilots who need them as well as any training they'll need on their new aircraft. Now certain aircraft are exempt from this part of the deal. For those aircraft, members of the O.A.D.F. will bring them in for us, The Demons of Razgriz, to use for a particular mission. Is that understood? Now before we discuss anything else, this is for you, highness.", came the disguised voice of the Razgriz Leader.

Saki Vashtarl nodded as a look of relief he couldn't quite smother floated across his face. Extending his hand to the King of Demons, Saki accepted the now-familiar envelope with its stark crest in contrast to the midnight black of the envelope. Opening the envelope and slipping out the familiar sheet of parchment, the prince read what was written:

"_**As The Demon Sleeps, Man Turns on Man,**_

_**His Own Blood and Madness Soon Cover the Earth.**_

_**From the Depths of Despair Awaken the Razgriz,**_

_**Its Raven Wings Ablaze in Majestic Light.**__**" **_

Once he was finished reading the note, Saki looked at his people and then at the four legends in front of him. Refolding the sheet in his hand, the Heir Quaternary of the Asranian Royal Family offered his thanks to the group of people in front of him. The leader waved it off and told Saki that they would've helped anyway. After seeing as much war and death as they'd seen, they wanted to see a lasting worldwide peace. The others concurred with their leader and although they weren't that surprised about it, the Area 88 crew noticed that each member of the Razgriz had a voice changing device sewn into the lining of their hoods like their leader.

When all of that was over and done with, the tension in the room lessoned and everyone started to loosen up. The Razgriz leader asked if his counterparts had any questions. Of course the Area 88 contingent had questions and the Razgriz spent another forty-five minutes or so answering questions relating to the subject at hand. Lieutenant Davenport even asked a few questions although most of her questions were about her later father. As the clock approached 5 in the morning, the question and answer session started to wind down. Nastasya Bartlett and Alina Davenport had returned to their respective quarters to catch a few hours of sleep. Since she didn't have any plans for later that day, Alina was assured of at least a solid eight hours of sleep if her roommates didn't wake her up. Nastasya Bartlett wanted to get some rest before Anastasia woke-up around ten in the morning or so. She knew that once little Anna was awake; her precious bundle of energy was going to run her ragged. Since they were going to the same building, Nastasya offered to drive the sleepy Ryouko Kazama back to her quarters. An offer Ryouko readily agreed to. She wasn't used to staying up so late was her explanation for her sleepiness. Nastasya just smiled her infamous mysterious smile and told the younger woman not to worry about it.

Now that is was just the Area 88 pilots and the Razgriz remaining in the lounge area, Shin quietly observed as a subtle message was passed between the four Razgriz members and decided to see if his hunch was correct. Clearing his throat, Shin stood up and approached the leader. With his compatriots watching, Shin crossed his arms over his chest and quirked an eyebrow.

"Isn't that you under that mask Major Thomas?", asked Shin much to the surprise of his friends.

There was a quick exclamation of laughter from Razgriz One as he leaned back in his seat.

"What makes you think that I'm Major Thomas?", asked the pilot nonchalantly.

Shin was caught off guard as he started to second-guess himself about his guess. But he quelled that thought before it could completely manifest itself and just shook his head to say he wasn't about to change his mind. The masked pilot laughed again before reaching up and pulling off his face mask to reveal, much to the surprise of the others, the grinning face of Major Ian "Blaze' Thomas. Before there could be any accusations of a lucky guess, Blaze asked Shin what gave him away.

"It was nothing specific, Blaze. It was just the way you carried yourself as the leader of the Razgriz. I wasn't sure at first and I've been trying to figure it out for the longest. Back when we first met the Demon King, it was apparent that he carried himself with a certain élan and panache. When we first arrived here at this base and started instructing, I noticed that you carried yourself in a way similar to the Demon King. I don't know what it was, your easy-going confidence, the way the senior instructors looked up to you and tried to emulate your style, and the way some of the junior instructors held you in a kind of high esteem. Tonight at the graduation, when you honored that graduate the way you did, I noticed that for a second after you presented Davenport with her father's jacket, she looked startled for a bit. Then it looked as if something had dawned over her and she realized who you really were. Even when we flew with you tonight, I observed you and still couldn't tell. Your flying style as the leader of one of the most feared squadrons in history is completely different from your usual style. It's different in the fact that in either guise you have no discernable and recognizable flying style. You are the true enigma here, Blaze, not me.", replied Shin as he stood in front of his counterpart.

Blaze nodded as if deep in thought before responding.

"I see, interesting deduction, Kazama; interesting deduction. Now that you've guessed that I'm the leader of the Razgriz, would you care to take a guess at the rest of their identities or is it so obvious that you're surprised no one of your compatriots have figured it out?"

Colonel Vashtarl and the rest of Shin's friends were still confused and trying to figure out that very thing when Razgriz Two walked over to Kitori and spoke.

"Baroness Palvanoff, didn't I tell you that the Razgriz number two was a woman and she loves seeing women perform in this male dominated career?", floated the familiar disguised voice of Razgriz Two.

Kitori's mouth dropped, she remembered Kei Nagase telling her that very thing. Realization caught up with her and she stammered for a minute as the lithe woman uncovered her face.

"I just didn't tell you that I was that woman, Kitori. And yes, I do love seeing women perform and excel in this career.", came the soft voice of Major Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas as she smiled at the other woman.

Kitori reconciled the fact that the woman who'd taught her everything she knew about how to fly a Super Hornet was a member of the legendary Razgriz. Turning to the shorter lady, Kitori turned from an aerial Valkyrie into a star struck little girl. Even in Asran, she'd heard stories about the squadron and its number two. To see her toughest instructor standing in front of her in the colors of the squadron and wearing the ubiquitous number 2 on her flight suit, Kitori was struck dumb. Many of the other female pilots at Area 88 would kill to be in her spot at this very moment. In the women's locker room there were several posters of the woman in front of her wearing her familiar black flightsuit and with her face masked or turned away from the camera. There were posters of the masked male members of the Razgriz some of her contemporaries lusted and moaned over but the few posters of the daring Razgriz 2 were the most treasured of the locker room decorations. To the other female pilots of Area 88 it (along with the presence of the 'Virgin Baroness' herself) it proved that a woman could do the same thing as a man.

_**"I wonder what those girls would think of me if they found out I wasn't really a virgin.", **__thought Kitori as she brought herself back to the present. _

Among the other pilots in the room, it was slowly dawning on Mickey Simon and Kim Aba that they'd been flying against the Razgriz the entire time. To both pilots it was a sobering thought: if flying against the Wardog Squadron members had been hard, flying against the Razgriz would be even harder still. Yet now the Wardogs they had been flying against were the legendary people they were supposed to meet, it was inconceivable. Simon looked at Aba and just shook his head before saying to himself.

"They were good when we knew them as Wardog. Now that we've found out that they're the Razgriz, man I'm happy that I never had to go against them in a real battle. We would've been dead if we had gone against them for real."

Colonel Saki Vashtarl looked down at the black with a red border envelope and ran what he'd just learned through his head again. So caught up in his concentration, Saki didn't realize that Colonel Bartlett had came up beside him.

"I told you that I knew who the Razgriz were back when we were on Sand Island. I just didn't tell you that the Razgriz were there as well. So what do you think, highness?", asked Jack with a humorous lilt to his voice.

"Jack, I think that you are the most connivingly slick bastard in the military. You've kept the identity of the Razgriz a secret even with all of my probing. Was President Harling in on keeping the secret as well?"

"Saki, former President Harling is the one who gave them the name 'Ghosts of Razgriz'. His last two years in office, they were his official squadron. Each time he made a political flight, one of those four pilots was the head pilot of the presidential aircraft while the others flew escort. No other squadron was even allowed near the president's airplane in flight as long as the Ghosts of Razgriz were there."

Saki looked at the man who was rapidly becoming a good friend. Slipping the envelope in one of his pockets, he grabbed Bartlett's hand and shook it. Then he headed for the door, he was tired and wanted to get some sleep. Before he exited the lounge completely, Saki looked over his shoulder and asked.

"Hey Bartlett, I got a bottle of twelve year old scotch that needs to be opened. And I hate to drink alone. You wanna join me?"

"I thought you'd never ask, Colonel!", replied Jack as he followed the man who was fourth in line to become ruler of his country out the door.

_**Wow, eighty-six pages of work!! I can't believe I wrote so much for this one chapter. That's nearly a record for me. Hopefully, my fans will still enjoy this chapter regardless of the length. I apologize for not following through on writing a shorter chapter. Maybe next chapter I'll get the length down. **_

_**Now before I thank anyone else, I again want to thank Mr. Bob Gandt for his help in clearing up my confusion about certain aerial maneuvers. Mr. Gandt, I thank you again with the help you gave me. I hope that the eighth book in your Brick Maxwell series comes out soon. I recommend that series for any serious fan of military aviation. It's up there on par with the Jake Grafton books by Stephen Coonts. **_

_**For my readers, I want to again thank you for sticking with this series regardless of the length of my chapters. I apologize most profusely about that. I guess I got carried away again :D. If you are a fan of any of my other stories and are reading this chapter to get caught up on what's new with your favorite story of mine, don't worry. I'm still working on them and haven't forgotten you. **_

_**For fans of 'Sylvia's Solitary Soldier', Chapter 5 is almost done. I wish I had finished it by Christmas or New Years but, alas, things happen and I couldn't finish in time. I should be finished with Chapter 5 and working on Chapter 6 soon. To those of you who are fans of my Totally Spies Story 'Totally Spies: Agents and Operatives', Chapter 4 is moving along smoothly even after a slight glitch that left me missing some of the chapter. I found it and am continuing to work on that one. Don't worry, its coming along fine. **_

_**Naruto Fans, 'Konoha Transporters' Chapter 1 is going steadily although I haven't worked on it for a short bit. I've been more concerned about getting this chapter and "Sylvia's Solitary Soldier' Chapter 5 finished and out to my fans. Don't worry. Everything is moving along slowly, but surely. Keep the faith and give me some time. It may be out sooner than you think. **_

_**If the story of mine that you like isn't mentioned in the above update, be sure that I haven't given up on them yet and I don't plan on it. I may have to reread some of them or just sit down and spend time on them when I get the time and am all caught up with all of my main stories. Keep the faith. **_

_**For now I must go. Keep the faith and continue to read, write, and review. Knightewolfe is gone for now. PEACE!!!**_

_**Knightewolfe's Lair.**_

_**2/08**_


	4. Desert Life and the Blue Rose of Highbur

Here it is, the fourth chapter of my Area 88/Ace Combat 5

Here it is, the fourth chapter of my Area 88/Ace Combat 5

_The Unsung War_ crossover. To those who've been patiently

waiting me to update the story and have remained steadfast

and loyal, this chapter's for you.

Y'all demanded that I bring it on back. Well here ya go,

enjoy the story, youse mugs !

Disclaimer: TV Asashi owns Area 88

while Ace Combat 5 is owned by Namco.

Area 88

Return of the Razgriz

Chapter 4:

Desert Life and the Blue Rose of Highbury

Allied Air Base, 455 Miles Northwest of Area 88

The day was hot and dry; and being out on the tarmac waiting for a semi-sexist group of men to replace the pair of travel pods mounted on two of the hardpoints of her desert tan Panavia Tornado F-3 with an extra pair of Sidewinder missiles made it even hotter, or so thought Rosemarie Harris-White (formerly of the Royal Air Force) as she stood by her plane with her arms crossed over her modest bust. Looking up at the rear cockpit of her bird, Rose saw that her weapons systems officer (a former F-16 Falcon pilot from the U.S.A.F. And Rose's best friend) Emily 'Stiletto' Nelson with her shades on and her hands behind her head as she sat trying to catch any little bit of the weak breeze that was blowing through the weapons loading area.

Standing an even six feet in height with shoulder length long black hair complimenting her mocha-colored skin, Rose-nicknamed the Blue Rose of Highbury after the stadium where her favorite football team used to play _(ETERNAL HIGHBURY!! GO ARSENAL!)_-pondered what had brought her to this desolate location. It had all started a year or so after she'd been honorably discharged from the R.A.F. When her squadron was stood down to replace its aging Panavia Tornados with the new EF-2000 Typhoon. Not wanting to give up her preferred mount for the new-albeit awesome-piece of next generation fighter technology, Rose had decided to get out of the air force and take employment as an airline pilot. It had taken Rose all of six months to get thoroughly tired of being a glorified bus driver. She missed the ecstasy of flinging her nimble tandem seat Tornado through the air at Mach 2 while dodging the enemy and completing her mission. On a layover in Atlanta, Georgia, Rose had entered the airlines' crew lounge with her co-pilot and flight attendants to check the weather for the next day and check her flight schedule to see when she'd get another chance to be off for a week or so.

While listening to her young co-pilot bitch about the pay scale and his sorry attempts at flirting with the attractive flight attendants, thirty-two year old Rose had glanced around the room and spotted her friend Emily Nelson sitting across the room listening to her pilot with a bored look on her face as she perused some sort of flyer she'd taken off the bulletin board. Making her excuses to the rest of her crew, Rose had gone over to chat with Emily and ask her what it was that had caught her attention. The two friends eventually ended up comparing routes and catching up on the goings on in each others' lives since they'd last seen each other at a major air force exercise a few years previous. Emily had shown Rose the flyer and had told her friend that she was going to shitcan the airline drudgery and sign up to join the foreign forces flying for the Kingdom of Asran.

At first, Rose had been skeptical about becoming an aerial mercenary and had disregarded the flyer but had wished Emily the best of luck and promised Emily that the next time she flew a Remain-Over-Night (RON) flight into Heathrow to give her a call and the two would go out and get shit-faced like they used to. The next day, after seeing Emily off before boarding the Boeing B-777 she was piloting from Atlanta (ATL) to Los Angeles (LAX) before continuing on to Honolulu, Hawai'I and points further west before finishing her route in Tokyo; Rose put her friend's words in the back of her mind. Three months later, after a flight in the nastiest weather she'd ever flown in, Rose had returned to her home airport only to receive a summons to report to the chief pilot later that day to schedule a date for her recurrent training.

In the operations center, the chief pilot had requested Rose fly as center seat check pilot for a newly promoted captain who was making his first Transatlantic flight in the triple-seven as pilot in charge when she returned from her month-long recurrent training program for the big Boeing. Rose had protested a little bit but eventually caved and agreed to act as check pilot for the newbie. That had been the biggest mistake of her life. The flight had been such an unmitigated disaster that halfway across the Atlantic Ocean; Rose had ordered the new captain out of his seat and flown the remainder of the flight herself. Of course this had led to a major argument with the young pilot in the operations center that had-in front of everyone-nearly come to blows. When it came time for her hearing on the matter, Rose had blasted the young man for his lack of skills, his complacency, and his utter nonchalance for the safety of his passengers.

Unknown to Rose at that time; the young pilot in question had powerful patrons higher up in the company hierarchy who didn't appreciate the fact that the pilot they had had high hopes for had been made to look like both: a know-it-all fool and a pompous jackass during the hearing. Those powerful men and women formed a cabal and decided that Rose was never going to be promoted beyond her current fairly senior flight position (Rose was a high-middle level senior captain and five very short steps removed from one of the senior captain positions due to her time and experience in the air force). That cabal had suspended Rose and the young pilot without pay for a month.

When she returned from her suspension, Rose found out that she'd been effectively ostracized by her peers. Recognizing a no win situation when she had one smacking her in the face with a two by four, Rose had returned home and written her letter of resignation. After dropping the letter off with the Human Resources Department, Rose had given Emily a call and asked her if she was still going to Asran. Emily had replied that she was going to and had the majority of the paperwork filled out but was presently dealing with a lawsuit she'd filed against one of the other pilots in the company. Over the course of a four hour long and increasingly drunken phone conversation, the two friends had firmed up their plans to join the pilots of Area 88.

"_**After all that we've gone through over the past year, now that we're well within range of our destination we gotta deal with assholes who don't think women should be flying high performance fighters in aerial combat; great. I hope we don't run into any of this sexism at our destination. That would just suck.", **__mused Rose as she heard the man in charge of the ground crew pass on to her that the missiles had been loaded and the plane fully fueled up for the last leg of her flight._

Slapping the side of her plane to get Emily's attention, Rose called up and told her that they would be leaving shortly. As Emily nodded in acknowledgement, the two became aware of the familiar whop-whopping sound of an old UH-1 Huey helicopter. Turning to face the sound and adjusting her sunglasses, Rose saw the dirty green workhorse as it came in and landed about a hundred yards away from the her Tornado. Spotting the tan flightsuits and colorful flight helmets of the two crewmembers, Rose snorted in disgust as the co-pilot in the left seat leered at her before busying himself with the postflight checks. Shaking her head, Rose wriggled herself back into her g-suit (much to the appreciation of the nearby ground crew and the leering Huey co-pilot) before preparing to mount and climb the built-in boarding ladder to her cockpit.

"_Hey, are you the two who called our base and asked them to send a chopper out to pick up your travel pods and bring them back?"_, came the shout of the Huey's pilot as he jogged over to Rose's fighter.

"Yeah, so what if we are? As we commenced our final approach, my backseater caught a brief burst of communications that reported a flight of bogies loitering around in an area three hundred miles away. Deciding that it would be better, we had the travel pods containing our personal articles downloaded and replaced with missiles in case of a donnybrook.", replied Rose as she reached the cockpit and settled herself into her ejection seat.

"Awww shit! Your call pulled us off of what could have become a real profitable mission. Oh well, even though this mission to pick up your stuff is only paying about twenty grand, it's better than nothing. Besides, I get to brag to the guys back on base that I got to meet the two Area 88 nuggets first. Mind if I take a picture of the two of you so I can gloat? If I don't use up the remainder of the film in this camera, that greedy bastard McCoy will charge me an additional eighty bucks. It's a shame that when you get to the base you'll already be at least fifty-thousand bucks in the hole before even arriving on base. The two of you better pray that if you run into some bad guys, you can shoot them down and recoup your losses. If you're either extremely lucky or extremely skilled and the bogies turn out to be Floggers, Fulcrums, or Flankers and you destroy them; you'll have recouped the fifty grand easily. Well, let me get my lazy ass crew-chief over here to give me a hand with your travel pods so we can get 'em on my helo and cinch 'em down real tight before fueling up and returning to base. You be easy up there and good luck. Since you'll probably beat us in, we'll see ya when we land.", replied the pilot good-naturedly as he waved to Rose and Emily.

The two women waved back and smiled for the slew of photos the man took before he returned to his old workhorse. Once he was far enough away, Rose got busy setting her fighter up to start its engines so they could continue on their journey. The ICS rattled as they made their way through their pre-engine start checklist. Once that was completed, Rose caught the attention of the ground crew and signaled that she was preparing to start her engines. They acknowledged and moved away from the engine intakes and got into their safety positions.

"That rotor-jockey was cute, Rose! Maybe I should look him up when we get to where we're going.", commented Emily in a lecherous tone of voice.

"Yeah, he was cute. But he's not my type. If you want him you can have him.", Rose replied in her accented voice with a grin.

That was her friend Emily, always on the lookout for a new guy. Rose sighed as she thought back to the one semi-serious relationship she had back when she was a junior Tornado pilot. Bringing her attention back to the present, she concentrated on getting her engines running so they could leave this base. They had places they needed to be.

Riptide Flight. Midway Between Allied Air Base and Area 88.

Two hundred or so miles away from where the Tornado flown by Rose Harris-White was preparing to launch for Double Echo, a pair of early flight D model Tomcats were flying a variable combat air patrol pattern. The pair of 'Cats had been dispatched by Big Sammy to cover the return of the members of an eight plane airstrike on an enemy position. Armed in the typical Tomcat interceptor profile (I.e. 2 Sidewinders, 2 Sparrows/AMRAAM's, and 2 Phoenixes), the flight lead 'Warlock' Georges and his RIO 'Pungent' Casey in Riptide One-One (tactical callsign: Fast Eagle 205) along with his wingman 'Nightewolfe' Smith and his RIO 'Big Eyes' Talvert in Riptide One-Two (Freelancer 110) yawned as he brought his bird around to a new heading.

"Hey Warlock, you hear the news? The commander is expecting a pair of newbies to arrive on base today. Scuttlebutt has it that they decided to make their way here on their own instead of catching a wide-body into the capital.", called Talvert as he lifted his head away from the radar screen and looked out at the other airplane.

"Yeah, yeah I heard the news. That blasted McCoy couldn't keep his damn mouth shut about that and charged me a hundred bucks for the info. Right now, I can't worry about it; I'm worrying about the recent rise in price for 20MM ammo. Jeez, that old man is more of a mercenary than any of us pilots when it comes to cash. It's good thing that Tigershark pilot worked out a deal with both the commander and McCoy to get us some surplus weaponry and ammunition. My contacts tell me that Blaze Thomas pulled a fast one on McCoy and circumvented one of his routes to get the stuff here. Of course that cut the old fart out of the profit and he went straight to Saki with a bone in his teeth and yelling bloody murder.", replied Warlock as he leveled his fighter out on its new heading.

There was a double click of acknowledgement as Nightewolfe followed suit. Another twenty minutes later and the two fighters changed direction again. Warlock was about to have his wingman take the lead for a bit when their radar systems made contact with a pair of bogeys approaching at about 450 knots. Rocking his wings to let Wolfe know to change to the 'loose deuce' formation both former naval aviators preferred when dogfighting. Coming about to face the unidentified contacts, Warlock was psyching himself up for a coming dogfight.

"Well, well, well… Wildcat, it looks like the two geniuses finally decided to notice us. We've been mirroring their flight path for the past what, hour or so?", came a familiar deep baritone.

"Aww shit, its Snow and Simon. What the hell are they doing here.", grumbled Wolfe as he angrily manhandled his fighter around to return to the 'welded wing' formation he and his flight lead had been flying earlier.

"Yep, that's them. Dunno what they're doing over in our area of operations though. Last I saw, they were fragged on the flight schedule as pulling escort duty for Kim's flight of Harriers as they went hunting for targets earlier. Guess that strike is finished and they decided to troll around for some extra cashish.", replied Pungent dryly as he tweaked his radar system a bit.

"Well hell, maybe we'll get lucky and some rebels will be stupid enough to attack us. We could always use the money.", replied Big Eyes as he tuned his radar a bit.

"I doubt that. Those two jackasses will probably scare away the rebels. Even if some do come up, those two will take the big money targets and leave us with the scraps.", Pungent continued with a disrespectful yawn.

Over in his A+ model Tomcat, Mickey sighed as he heard the subtle insult from Warlock's backseater. Even though the guy was a pretty good RIO, Mickey just didn't particularly like some aspects of his attitude. In the three months since Swordsman and the rest of the Razgriz had arrived at Area 88, there had been some tensions between some of the old school Area 88 contingent who complained that they didn't need the extra help. Big Greg had been the far most vocal about it until him and his section had been bounced by a mixed flight of Fishbeds, Flogger D's, Fitters, and a pair of Typhoons.

As Greg and his pilots fought for their lives, Swordsman and Archer had arrived and proceeded to ease some of the tension on the beleaguered flight by sending both Typhoons and a Flogger down in flames. The rest of the flight-a mixed bag of Phantoms, Corsair II's, Greg's Skyhawk, and a Tiger II-had rallied and downed several of the remaining enemies until the rest ran off. Unfortunately, three members of Greg's flight had been shot down with no possible survivors. Upon arrival back at Area 88, Greg had profusely thanked the two for the help before apologizing for his actions.

Since they'd been loaded for knife-fighting engagements with Sidewinders, Sparrows, and AMRAAM's; both Mickey and Snow were flying their Tomcats solo. The pair had waxed a few bandits that managed to get close to Kim's zero-seven section and were now, as Pungent had surmised, just cruising. Simon and the other two pilots conversed for a bit while Snow listened, until Double Echo broke in and ordered the four to go investigate a possible dogfight that had suddenly appeared on their radar.

"Copy that Double Echo. Coming to new heading and switching to TWS on radar. Riptide, you guys coming?", answered Snow as he changed his direction of flight.

"Yeah, might as well go and keep you from mucking up too bad if there actually is a furball.", yawned Pungent over the radio as his pilot cranked their 'Cat around to join up with the two multi-ace pilots.

Warlock frowned in frustration as he heard his RIO's lackadaisical reply. He was starting to get a bit tired of Casey's bitching about the six-four black pilot from Osea behind his back. Deciding to have a 'Come-to-Jesus' chat with his backseater upon their return, Warlock accelerated with his wingman in trail.

Alright, Riptide; if y'all don't mind, I'll lead take the lead here. Why don't we go to combat spread just in case there is a fight up ahead? In fact, since both Mickey and I are flying solo and you guys got backseaters, why don't one of you join on each of our wings? That way, if there is a fight and in case we run into some Foxbats and Foxhounds, there's a pair of -54's in each flight.", Snow continued as he watched his wingmen move around.

As he expected, Nightewolfe and Big Eyes formed up on his wings while Warlock and Pungent formed up on Mickey's wing. Snow just sighed and continued flying. If Pungent was gonna be an ass about stuff, it wasn't any water off of his back. Reporting back to Big Sammy that the flight was sorted with Mickey leading his second element, the Eternal Swordsman increased his speed and started a climb to a higher altitude. If there was a fight, he wanted his flight to have the altitude advantage.

"If we ain't cheatin', we ain't tryin'.", Snow muttered to himself.

**195 Miles Out from Allied Base.**

Rosemarie Harris-White bit off another curse as the Flogger she'd been targeting juked right and forced her to loose her firing solution. Taking her thumb off of the firing button, Rose quickly glanced at her instruments to check how her fuel was doing. So far there was still enough to make Double Echo if she got out of burner and was able to escape the hastily set up ambush, her and her backseater had stumbled into.

Their launch from the allied air base had been uneventful and Rose had climbed to a cruising altitude of twenty eight thousand four hundred and thirty-five feet before leveling off and setting course for her destination at a respectable cruising speed. For the first twenty or so minutes of the flight, the radar warning gear of the Tornado had been quiet except for the occasional brush from a friendly radar site to read their transponder squawk.

Shortly after checking in with the controller on their next leg of flight, Emily's radar had held contact on an unidentified blip for a bit but lost it as Rose maneuvered to strengthen the return. The Tornado swung about in all directions to try and regain contact for twenty minutes before Rose had given up on the contact and had returned to her base leg. A few minutes later, the Tornado's RHAW gear came to life with a strident sound. Immediately, Rose had jerked her stick to the left while giving it a healthy dose of left rudder as she tried to beam the unidentified radar searching for them. That standard tactic worked and the RHAW gear ceased its howling. As the gear went silent, Rose started to jink at random intervals while her finely honed instincts told her that there was the possibility that her mysterious opponent was tracking her by infrared and was just waiting for the right moment to launch a heatseeking missile in her direction. Crossing her original course at an angle just in case the enemy waited for her to regain her base course, the radar in the Tornado brushed against another bogey. This time, the signal was strong and growing stronger.

Increasing her speed to see if she could visually identify the enemy that her system had spotted, Rose, Emily and their Tornado flew into the detection cone of another radar system and their warning systems went berserk. Rose maneuvered all over the sky to try and break the radar beam. When Rose heard the dreaded _deedledeedledeedle _sound indicating that they were locked up by enemy radar and would soon be getting a missile up the ass if she didn't do anything soon, she dropped countermeasures and broke away. As she did, their radar locked on to one of the unidentified aircraft. It was Emily who gasped first as she recognized the silhouette.

"It's a Fishbed and its coming straight at us with a bone in its teeth! _SHIT, he's fired at us! _Rose, drop flares and chaff, we've got what looks to be a pair of Atoll's headed in our direction. Let's boogie on outta here!"

"I see it! Weapons armed! What's the range!!"

"Range to enemy, 22.5 miles!"

"Copy that, switching to Sparrow! Hurry up and get me a lock"

"Working on it, come right! He's jinked, trying to beam us! Gimme a second! Okay, locked on!"

Rose heard the tone that told her the Sparrow was 'seeing' its target. Flipping the safety cover up, she mashed the firing button.

"Fox One! Fox One! Missile Away!!"

Emily used the powerful radar system in the Tornado to track their missile all the way to its target. Lifting her head up and craning her neck in that direction, Emily saw the bright flash in the distance that told her their missile had hit.

"Scratch One Fishbed! The others are closing, getting into knife-fighting range! Tracking new targets designated Tangos Two through Eight."

"Range!", shouted Rose over the intercom as she twisted her aircraft around to get a lock while going into afterburners.

"Range unknown at this time! Radar's saying we got a… shit…shit….shit, the target's a dammed Flogger. He's attacking us while his buddies are watching to see which way we're gonna go. Fuck me sideways, it's not just -21's and -23's out there giving us the hungry look, ECM's telling me that somewhere out there is two possible pairs of Foxbats. And there is no way in fucking hell that we'll catch up to them!", Emily rasped as she dealt with the g-forces Rose was pulling.

"No shit, Emily!! Let's deal with these Fishbeds and Floggers right now. We need to break out!", returned Rose as she dropped her nose and dove to avoid a missile.

Emily growled and went back to locating targets with the radar and saw that several of the Flogger spectators were now boring towards them in full burner. She passed that info tidbit to Rose in the front who glanced down at her radar repeater screen, verified the remaining number of bandits, and compared the total to what she had left armaments-wise.

"Emily, it looks like we have two 'Winders, two 'RAAM's, and a Sparrow left to go along with the full load we have for the cannon. I need you to designate those targets that pose an immediate threat to us on the radar first and we'll take them out. Right now lock our remaining Sparrow on one of those threats. I wanna get that damn semi-active radar homing missile off the rails as quickly as I can. If we're going to score with it, I need to keep the radar painting that particular target until that missile is in its terminal guidance mode. Once the Sparrows are gone, that will open up a lot of possibilities for us.", said Rose through the gasps as she jinked her aircraft in every possible so that the enemy couldn't get a lock on her.

Making some hasty calculations, Emily used her joystick to move her cursor over to the bandit her pilot had requested and reported a 52 lock.

"That'll have to do. Fox One, Fox One. Missile Two Away!! Good all our Sparrows are gone! Now we can get down to the nitty-gritty here!"

For the next several minutes, the only sound that could be heard from the cockpit of the Tornado F-3 as it maneuvered across the sky were the grunts of the crew as their g-suits reacted to the demands brought on by their maneuvering throughout the g-envelope. The Tornado took a few glancing hits but nothing too serious while racking up another three kills using her last Sparrow, one of her AMRAAM's and one of her Sidewinders. Switching from Sidewinder to AMRAAM, Rose again tried to get in touch with Area 88 to report her situation.

"Double Echo, Double Echo, Tornado 404; I'm surrounded by several bandits and am trying to fight my way free. I've downed two Fishbeds, one Frogfoot, and one Flogger D. I've taken some damage in the fuselage but it's negligible at this time. We're badly in need of some assistance, over."

"Tornado Four-Zero-Four, your assistance is on its way. A flight of four Tomcats are approaching your position at max speed. They'll be there in three mikes."

"I hope those Tomcats have some Phoenix missiles. My backseater has reason to believe that four of the bandits are Foxbats."

**Swordsman's Tomcat 135 miles away.**

Marcus listened in as the controller received the report from the surrounded fighter. Activating his search radar, he went about trying to locate the Mach 3 capable fighters. Waggling his wings, Snow gave the sign for Wolfe to mover further out in combat spread to give him a better search cone for the thousand pound, hypersonic fire-and-forget missile.

"Riptide One-Two, Swordsman, have you found one of those Foxbats yet?"

"That's a negative at this time, Swordsman. Still looking though; switching from TWS to pulse-doppler; ah, got 'im Swordsman, contact four Foxbats at my ten o'clock for ninety-five miles. Switching to Phoenix! Riptide One-Two has a lock on the leader, designating target Sierra One. Standby….Standby….Standby; Fox Three, Missile Away!", came the reply from Nightewolfe's backseater, 'Big Eyes' Talvert.

At the same time, Warlock's backseater 'Pungent' Casey had locked up the tail-end Charlie Foxbat and was going through his own launch procedure litany as his fellow RIO pressed the button that loosed the mighty Phoenix at its target. Once his own missile was gone, Casey changed targets.

"Missile Away, Riptide Two-Two switching targets to Sierra Three; I'm getting a good tone. Missile locked on target. Fox Three, Missile Two Away!", chanted Casey as the second and last Phoenix loaded on his fighter dropped down and ignited before streaking out in a Mach 5 blur towards its target.

In the front seats of each Tomcat, Nightewolfe and Warlock mentally rejoiced as a ton of high explosive was released and gave each 'Cat more maneuverability and speed. Once the missiles were on their way, both Warlock and Wolfe switched from the 'Phoenix' missile detent on their control sticks to the 'Sidewinder' and 'Sparrow' missile detents. While they were switching, Snow was trying to contact the friendly aircraft in the middle of the battle.

"This is Swordsman calling Tornado 404, come in 404!"

"Swordsman, you got 404. I'm, kind of busy right now but we'll gladly accept your assistance in any way possible.", came the reply from the wildly maneuvering jet.

"404 say status?"

"Our present situation ain't all that great right now. We've taken several hits from cannon fire. No severe damage as of yet but my number two engine is running a bit ragged. Out of this bunch we've taken down two Fishbeds, one Frogfoot, and one Flogger D, however those dammed Foxbats are just going too bloody fast!! We're down to our last 'Winder and maybe half our basic load for our cannon. We're also out of countermeasures, Swordsman."

"Swordsman copies, 404. We'll be there shortly. Can you extend this way a bit, my wingmen are out of Phoenixes and the bandits remaining around you are out of our range. Squawk two-one-seven-two and identify so we don't shoot you down by accident."

"Tornado 404 copies, squawking two-one-seven-two."

Snow frowned as he saw the developing situation on his radar. If he and his wingmen didn't get there in time, that brave Tornado crew was going to run out of options. Gritting his teeth and wishing he could go faster, Snow waited for the in range tag to pop up on his Heads Up Display (HUD). Snow had already chosen his target and had been tracking it ever since he locked one of his Sparrows on to the signal of the Flogger J presently sitting at angels 32 waiting to swoop down on the outnumbered Tornado. He knew that firing the Sparrow at his present range would be okay since he could still afford to fly straight and level for a bit; however, the minute he popped off the Sparrow, his target would start his evasion maneuvering. Even though the AMRAAM would be a better choice (the 'Mad Dog in a Meat Locker' AMRAAM was a fire and forget active radar homing missile), Snow knew that once he got rid of his Sparrows, he could shift his attention to the closer enemies.

Following Snow's flight as they raced in to the fight, Mickey was able to use his radar and study the developing tableau. Using his radar to track the bandits and assign missiles to the six most dangerous threats, Mickey waited until he got into the best position before prosecuting his attack on three Floggers trying to sneak in and attack Warlock. Not knowing why he did, Mickey put his Tomcat up on its port wing and looked down trying to spot anyone making a pop-up attack and barely saw the road of hard packed sand thousands of feet below. Filing it in the back of his mind for some unknown later date, Mickey bore into the mix.

For the next few minutes fighters twisted and twirled through the bright azure sky in a kind of divinely choreographed aerial ballet of death. Missile trails crisscrossed the sky as they intertwined with the black trials of destroyed fighters drifting to earth. Some of those destroyed had the missing cockpit canopy that signified a successful ejection. Occasionally (and only if one were eagle-eyed enough and not preoccupied) the parachutes of those dismounted pilots could be seen as they floated to the ground on their personal cushions of air. The noise of the battle was terrifyingly loud to those no longer ensconced in the protective embrace of the metal cocoons that had once carried them into battle. Other aircraft took their final rides with dead hands at the controls. Soon it was all over.

This time, those intrepid mercenaries flying from the secret airbase were victorious and set course towards home while some of the surviving combatants were already mentally composing the stories they were going to tell about the fight. The remaining bandits, few in number, had turned tail and fled as they lost their advantage over the lone Tornado when the four Tomcats dove into to the fight and proclaimed their superiority over this sky and any other sky in the world. The enemy survivors would return to their bases with their minds forever scarred and tainted by their close meetings with _**'The Big Cat'**_.

In her Tornado, Rose winced as she experimentally moved her control stick to see how bad the damage to her precious F-3 was. Before her rescuers had jumped into the fight, the Tornado had taken some minor hits. Now it struggled to stay airborne as more of the incurred damage made itself known. At the moment, Rose knew for a fact that there was no way her number two engine was going to last all the way to Area 88. It had taken some more hits and had gathered its fair share of shrapnel when Rose had misjudged her closing rate with the expanding fireball of a Flogger she'd nailed with a burst of fire from her 27MM cannon.

Out of flares, chaff, missiles, and with maybe a hundred rounds for her cannon, both Rose and Emily were grateful that the Tomcats of her rescuers were keeping to a modest speed and a high enough altitude that could translate to a margin of safety should her engine die. Unhooking her oxygen mask, Rose took her hand off of the throttles to open a pocket to retrieve her bandana so she could wipe some of the sweat off of her face. With a wry grin, she activated her intercom and called her backseater.

"How's things back there, Emily? You've been quiet for the past few miles. Every thing alright?", Rose asked as she returned the pink and green bandana to her pocket.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Keeping an eye on my displays to make sure everything is still doing what it was designed to do. I know we're low on fuel and have a dinged up refueling probe therefore we can't hit a tanker to give us some gas. Also, I'm getting some very intermittent hits on the radar as we go. The majority of them seem to be friendlies but I'm not too sure. Call over to Swordsman and see if he can get us some new data so I can clean up my display back here.", replied Emily as she deftly flipped switches in the Tornado's backseat.

"Copy that. He seems like a nice guy so I don't think he'd mind. I can tell he's one helluva pilot though.", Rose responded.

In her seat, Emily heard the subtle lusty wistfulness oozing out from her friend voice and smirked to herself. It was about time Rose got interested in men again. Ever since her break-up with a cheating boyfriend two years ago, she hadn't been the same happy go lucky woman Emily first met during their time participating in an exercise many years previous. Back then Rose was bummed out about missing out on a promising relationship with a young Osean Maritime Defense Force Tomcat pilot she'd met when his carrier visited England.

Hearing her friend as she asked the pilot for the data she needed to clear up her radar, Emily input the new information into her console and watched as her radar system changed to status of several unidentified contacts from bogey to friendly as the IFF system in the Tornado queried each of them and got a response. She was sure that their IFF was responding to the requests from the systems of the others and giving a favorable report. Deciding to make sure, Emily called the pilot of the Tomcat flying to their left to drop back and check.

"Copy that Four-Zero-Four, Riptide One-Two dropping back to query your IFF.", came the happy voice of the Tomcat's front-seater.

"Riptide One-Two, Swordsman; while you're back there can you delouse us and make sure we're free of any nosy guests?", came the baritone of the 'Cat flight lead.

"That's a big Aye-Firmativo, Swordsman, gimme a few minutes to get set up."

"Take your time, Riptide Two. Riptide One, Wildcat, Four-Zero-Four lets keep our eyes peeled. We never know when one of the rebel pilots will actually have the balls to fly into our airspace."

Emily grinned as a chorus of lewd and rude acknowledgments came back to the baritone. Checking the position of her radio switch and making sure that she was speaking on the cockpit intercom, Emily leaned forward and asked Rose (for about the hundredth time) about the man she once loved.

"Emily! Now is not the time to be inquiring about my private life! We're in a combat zone and I need to keep focused on my instruments up here!", snapped Rose with a curse.

"Aww come on Rose!! Now is _exactly _the time to talk about this! Yeah, we're in a combat zone and can't relax until we've landed and taxied to our assigned revetment but damn woman! You know that the majority of the pilots here are single men! Shit, we're gonna be in sausage city and I don't want your crush from the past ruining my chances with any of these guys!! Now spill it!! You're the legendary Blue Rose of Highbury with men wanting to drag their balls across many a mile of broken glass just to catch a faint glimpse of you!", teased Emily.

Rose groaned as she remembered the predicament that led to her getting tagged with _that_ particular name in her wonderfully misspent teenage years. It wasn't one of her most favorite memories. Knowing that her friend wasn't going to let up on her teasing until she told the story again, Rose sighed. At least this time she had a bit of new information, although it was still years out of date.

"Alright 'Stiletto', I'll again tell you the story of how I met Lieutenant JG 'Hothead' Snow. It happened many years ago and Osea had sent one of their carrier battle groups to England on a friendly port visit. At the time, we had one of your navy's carriers visiting as well. I was junior officer in the RAF and was on a training flight when my flight lead and I caught sight of the Osean flattop cruising serenely off our coast heading for the Royal Navy Base where the U.S.S. _Ranger_ was docked. Of course we'd known about the arrival but still, seeing that grey monster excited me. I knew that the Osean Air Wing had been invited to participate in a combined exercise. The squadron I was assigned to was one of several RAF squadrons participating.", started Rose as she remembered.

Continuing on with her story, Rose told Emily how her flight lead and she had caught the Osean carrier during flight operations and had been given a clearance to hang around and escort a couple of Tomcats from one of their squadrons in.

"Osean fighter squadron VF-177; a.k.a. 'The Grey Dukes'. So my flight lead contacts the leader of the Tomcat flight and has them form up on our wing. They did so and soon I had this Tomcat sitting off my starboard wing close enough for me to read the names of its crew; 'Hothead' Snow and 'Smooth Operator' Hill. At first I didn't catch the reference but my flight lead cracked up when I told him. Unfortunately, I'd passed the info on over the main channel instead of the back channel. Soon after that, I heard the cocky voice of who I took to be the pilot insult me over the radio. Of course, me being as cocky if not cockier than the Tomcat pilot, I retorted in a similar manner. Soon he and I are in a full-blown argument over the frequency and every one listening could hear us. During a brief break in the argument, his RIO broke in and commented to my WSO (Weapons Systems Officer; 'Whizzo'; or 'Bear') that the two of us, meaning his pilot and myself, would make a perfect couple and he couldn't wait till the wedding. Needless to say, that shut both of us up out of pure embarrassment for the rest of the flight."

Taking a breath, Rose continued with her story as Emily listened intently in the back while checking her switches.

"That night, at the formal dine-in inside the O Club, I just happened to see this tall, chocolate-skinned specimen of man wearing an O.M.D.F. Dress uniform with jg shoulder boards on being dressed down by one of his senior squadron mates and wishing he had a beer in his hand instead of the glass of wine he was carrying. Making my way in his direction, I saw him look around nervously and I indicated the direction of the back bar where the beer was. He gave me a look of gratefulness and made his escape when his superior finished. Later, I entered the back bar with some of me mates and we headed over to a table where some of the American blokes were sitting. The majority of the Yanks were Tomcatters mixed in with a few Hornet drivers for flavor. As I sat down and started chatting, the jg from the reception showed up with a serving tray covered with beer mugs for those around. He'd lost a bet with one of the yank Tomcat drivers and bought the next round. With his dress uniform jacket off and his tie loosened up, he looked fairly handsome in a boyishly rugged way. Soon after he arrived, the group was in deep discussion about their day. This guy mentions that he'd gotten into an argument over the radio waves with somebody from our squadron and was looking for the guy so he could punch him out. It took me a minute to process the words and realize that he was the guy I'd gotten into it with earlier that day.", Rose paused for a second before continuing.

"So, me being me and at the same time being a slight bit intoxicated, I jump up and tell the guy to take his best shot. He's taken aback a bit and shakes his head. I tell him that I was the one he got into the argument with and I insult him again. He retaliates and we go back and forth verbally for a good minute before some jackoff decides that to settle this debate the Osean pilot and I would try to drink each other under the table. We both agree without hesitation and the contest starts. You can imagine two pilots in their respective dress uniforms going stein for stein of some of the best beer I'd ever tasted. Pretty soon we were so trashed that nothing was going to be resolved. That's when things got worse. The bloke makes another remark and I go ballistic and grab the nearest thing to soundly thrash this guy with. Unfortunately I end up with a broom handle that I break over his head. He grabs the broken piece off the floor and soon we're drunkenly dueling with parts from the busted broom handle. This goes over real well with the barkeep and he starts screaming for the MP's and everyone starts breaking for the door. We just forgot that on the other side of the door were several fairly senior officers who were a bit tipsy themselves. So here everyone comes racing outta the back bar, destroying the door separating the two rooms in the process, and dashing into the conglomeration of squadron commanders with a few captains and colonels mixed in. Somehow during the following melee, my roommate grabs me and out of reflex, I grab the Osean pilot so we can continue our conversation. Eventually we end up in my apartment completely starkers and still arguing. When we realized our state of dress, or undress as it was, he looks at me and shrugs his shoulders. I look around the room, see the clothes on the floor and go 'what the hell; we're naked anyway, might as well end the night on a high note and lead him to my bedroom. What followed was the most intense sensually satisfying night I had ever had."

Emily cracked up as she heard the lilt in Rose's voice. But before she could ask Rose to continue the story, an urgent radio call broke across the radio channel.

"_Shit…shit…shit. _Everyone break, we've been targeted. Some lucky rebel bastard has us dead to rights and there's an Adder screaming in. Everyone, drop countermeasures and evade!", shouted Swordsman.

Just as Rose began her jink to the right, something hit her aircraft in the faltering number two engine and exploded with a numbing force. Instinctively knowing that her precious Tornado was doomed, Rose neutralized the now useless flight stick, pressed her head against the head rest of her seat, reached above her head for the ejection seat handles and pulled, starting the ejection sequence. The canopy blew off in a windstorm of glass fragments that stung her helmet, eye shield, and hands before disappearing in a flash. For a second, Rose feared that her ejection seat might have failed then she heard the rocket under Emily's seat fire the petite woman up and out of the stricken airplane. After a few milliseconds that felt like hours to Rose, she felt the rockets under her seat fire and push her ejection seat up the telescoping rail it was mounted to. Going from the violence of the ejection to the silence of the sky as her seat flew up to a predetermined height before kicking her out and deploying her parachutes' drogue as a precursor to chute deployment itself was a new experience for the former Tornado pilot.

Over in Riptide One-One, Pungent was yelling over the radio.

"Two chutes, I see two good chutes!! They're out and free-falling, Double Echo, Double Echo; Riptide Two-Two can you scramble the Angel, the nuggets punched out!"

"Negative Riptide flight, the Angel is busy on another mission. Angel Two is too far behind and doesn't have the gas to reach you. Riptide Flight, Big Sammy has contact on a pair of Fulcrums heading in your direction and suggests you depart the area."

Warlock slammed a fist on his instrument panel as he listened to the report from base. He was down to his last Sidewinder and low on fuel. Glancing over at his wingman, Warlock knew that Nightewolfe was also low on gas and nearly out of ammo. Both Simon and Snow had already told him they were out and couldn't do anything about the approaching enemies. Just as he was about to curse in frustration at leaving a brave crew out in the desert, Simon's voice came over the radio.

"Warlock, Wildcat; do you think you can keep those Fulcrums occupied for oh about five, ten minutes without using up your fuel?"

"It's possible Wildcat but I wouldn't want to bet on it, why?", replied Warlock.

"I got an idea. Swordsman, you're flying single right?"

"Dammit, Mickey, you know I am? What's the deal here?", snapped Swordsman

"See that hardball down there? I think that if the crew of 404 can make it, we can land and pick 'em up. We're gonna have to do it in a hurry though. Radar shows those Fulcrums are buster."

In his Tomcat, Marcus gritted his teeth and ran numerous scenarios through his head. Each one came up with the capture or death (or worse) of the 404 crew. Coming to the same conclusion as Mickey, he sighed and radioed that he'd give it a shot.

"Alright, there's the guy I know. Riptide all you have to do is keep them busy for five to ten minutes; fifteen at the most. If you reach your bingo during that time frame, go ahead and RTB. Hopefully we'll be just about finished.", replied Mickey as he banked hard to line himself up with the direction of the road.

During the course of the conversation, both Rose and Emily had been brought safely to the ground by their parachutes and had met up. Rose snatched the survival radio from its pocket on her survival vest and turned it on. Calling the orbiting fighters to let them know that she and her backseater were alright, Rose asked what they planned to do for a rescue.

"Can both of you make that road at your two o'clock? Wildcat and Swordsman are gonna attempt to land and pick you up. If they make it successfully, you'd better be ready to move. They're gonna set their number one engine at idle so approach the port side of their planes and scamper up the boarding ladder and into the backseat. Hopefully this'll work out. Now get going, Wildcat's on his final approach and from what I can see you're about three hundred yards away! Get moving!!", shouted Big Eyes as he gasped for breath when his pilot reversed their course to face the approaching Fulcrums.

Rose double clicked her radio in acknowledgement and passed word to Emily about the plan. Both women discarded their parachute harnesses and g-suits before running through the shifting sand to the road. As they approached the hard packed dirt, the Tomcat with the playboy bunny on its vertical stabilizer passed by and slowed to a stop a few yards up from where they stood.

Since they were on the right side of the fighter, Rose and Emily had to run around the pointed nose of the idling fighter as it sat on the hard-packed dirt road. The cockpit canopy lifted and the pilot impatiently waved at hand at them to hurry up. Rose told Emily to go ahead and board, she'd catch the next Tomcat (who was presently touching down approximately a few thousand yards back). At first Emily resisted but common sense prevailed and she scampered up the boarding ladder, grabbed the extended hand of the pilot and climbed into the backseat where a RIO would usually be situated.

Seeing that her friend was alright, Rose backed away from the plane as its pilot let off his brakes and started rolling down the road. The canopy started to close as the pilot slowly increased his throttle to keep from damaging his engine. Preoccupied with the now departing aircraft carrying her friend and hoping that the canopy would close before the fighter reached take-off speed, Rose didn't hear the noise of the Tomcat coming up behind her until its pilot yelled for her to move her ass and get aboard. Repeating Emily's actions of just seconds before, Rose scrambled up the boarding ladder and dropped into the rear ejection seat as the canopy closed around her. Getting situated and realizing that without her harness, she couldn't strap into the seat properly, Rose attached the communication lead from her helmet and oxygen mask to the system and waited for it to synchronize.

"Thanks for the save, Swordsman!"

"You're welcome but we're not outta the shit yet. Warlock and Wolfe are real busy covering our ass. We gotta get off the ground quick and hope we can make it. Wildcat is departing the area at Mach 2 with your friend in his pit and we're here yanking our cranks trying to get airborne. Can you not distract me for the next couple of minutes, I gotta play maestro with the throttles so I don't FOD (FOD foreign object damage) my engines as we start our takeoff run.", grumped Swordsman as he watched his instruments and the road intently.

Rose just double-clicked the mic. She knew how much danger they were presently in and did not want to disturb her savior. As she leaned back in the familiar confines of the ejection seat, something in the back of her mind started to work. Ignoring it for now, Rose concentrated on watching the indicators on the panel in front of her. The professional part of her mind figuring things out and cataloging them as the aircraft barely reached its take-off speed and lifted off the ground. Adjusting to the shuddering she was feeling, Rose recognized it as the shallow buffet that could lead to a stall. She winced as her mind processed that a stall at this height would be fatal. Over the ICS, she could hear the pilot sweet-talking his aircraft.

"Come on baby! You can do it! Gimme that ground effect! Please don't stall on me now baby girl. I know you can do it. We'll stay low and in the ground effect until we have enough speed to get altitude. I know how much you hate to fly this low but please baby, gimme the speed I need.", came the murmurs from the front seat.

As the seconds ticked off, Rose could feel the plane trying to respond to its master's voice. After three minutes that felt like three hours, the shuddering smoothed out and Rose knew that the danger of stall had faded away for now. Once she was sure that her pilot could spare her a minute, Rose gave him a call over the intercom system.

"Swordsman, I want to thank you and your wingman again for saving my ass back there, both in the furball and again by risking your aircraft to land and pick us up. I'm grateful and I know my backseater is as well. My name is Rosemarie Harris-White and I'm a former Tornado pilot in the Royal Air Force. After I got out, I joined the airlines and flew for a few years before I resigned due to an incident that happened between a younger pilot and myself. After that I joined my friend, a former F-16 pilot in the USAF, in signing on with the Asranian Foreign Force with a retired Tornado I purchased with my earnings from the airline.", stated Rose in the lightly accented quiet, yet respectably demure, voice she'd learned to use as a child.

"Marcus Snow, callsign Swordsman. Formerly a captain in the Osean Maritime Air Defense Force and former deputy air wing commander aboard the OFS _Kestrel. _My situation is…similar to yours. At the request of an old friend of ours, some friends of mine and I decided to join up. Why don't you rest for a bit, we should be at Area 88 shortly? Riptide Flight has reported that the Fulcrums aborted their attack runs when we took off from that road. They're flying behind us to keep our six clear. Wildcat's a few miles ahead at 15 grand. Your backseater is fine, although she's asking too many questions but it's alright, Wildcat's used to it. He's a sort of ladies man but he's a helluva fighter pilot.", replied Swordsman as he glanced at the rearview mirrors attached to his canopy railing.

Trying to stifle a yawn that threatened to break out now that her adrenalin was wearing off and realizing how exhausted she was, Rose nodded and gazed through the canopy as she replayed the engagement in her mind and critiqued her maneuvers. A few minutes later, her pilot looked up at his rearview mirrors to check on his passenger and saw that she was fast asleep; he quirked up the corner of his mouth as he tried to make the remainder of the flight as smooth as possible for the exhausted woman sitting behind him.

Double Echo Tower. Exterior Walkway.

Commander Saki Vashtarl stood in his familiar place on the walkway as he waited for some of his mercenaries to return to base. Next to him, with a clipboard in his hand was his aide Leo. There was a breeze gently blowing through the sand dunes and every once in awhile a dust cloud was blown over the base. With the ever present sunglasses covering his eyes, Saki gazed down at the row upon row of airplanes spotted in the revetments. Off to the right, he could see his ace of aces, Shin Kazama, talking about some maintenance to his Tiger with Gustav, the head mechanic. Further down the line, the Thomases had procured a pair of lawn chairs from somewhere and were reclining under the wing of Edge's Super Hornet and sharing a moment of personal time. Across the way, Saki could see Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama discussing a possible future job with a few of his Hercules transport pilots. Saki sighed as he enjoyed the idyllic scene. He knew that elsewhere on the base; many of his better pilots were regaling the new pilots with tales of their daring do from the earlier war.

"I bet Greg is in there telling tall tales again, Leo. He always does this when things get slow.", commented Saki as he turned to face the younger man.

"That would be a sucker bet, commander. Even I know that Greg will be telling lies in the cafeteria. I remember my days down there as a young pilot with more balls than brains.", replied Leo with a hint of wistfulness in his voice.

Saki chuckled as he heard the wistfulness in his aide's voice. There were some times when he wished he could return to his days as a junior pilot in the Asranian Royal Air Force and sit back listening to the stories the combat veteran pilots had. He was a long way from the young, hard-charging; kick the tires and light the fire, set his hair on fire at the drop of a hat fighter pilot he used to be. Now he was the base commander at the most secret air base in his native land and had under his command some of the finest fighter and attack pilots in the entire country. Even though his men and women were mercenaries, they were the equal of any legitimate air force in their region of the world.

Hearing footsteps behind him, Saki turned and saw that his cousin 'The Virgin Baroness' had arrived on the catwalk and was waiting for a moment of his time. Saki sighed again as he remembered the directive that had came from his father shortly after Blaze Thomas and his crew had arrived. In it, his parents had expressed an interest in meeting the Ghosts of Razgriz and had planned to arrive at the base in secret for the visit. Of course this had somehow gotten around to all of the high ranking members of the military and they either raised most holy hell about it or expressed a similar interest. At the end of the letter (written by his mother), his parents expressed concern that her Excellency Baroness Kitori Palvanoff stayed in the women's barracks with the other single women on base instead of with her fiancé, the prince, in his private quarters. Surely Saki's quarters were large enough for the two of them to share so that some semblance of a home life could be expressed.

When Saki wrote back that his quarters were small and that as the senior-most officer on base he couldn't share his quarters with one of his pilots, even if she was betrothed to him; the king had sent back a brusque and to the point reply ordering him to either share his quarters with the baroness or step down as commanding officer of the base. Since he couldn't go against the wishes of the king, Saki had swallowed his anger and called Kitori in for a private meeting and informed her of the situation. When he told her of the orders, Kitori didn't as much as arch one delicate eye lash. Her reaction (or lack thereof) caught him by surprise and introduced the possibility that his cousin had gone behind his back and told her aunt about the situation. He later found out that that wasn't the case and that Kitori was truly surprised at the request. Over the next few weeks, Saki's quarters were enlarged just enough to give both of them some semblance of privacy. To keep the betrothed from sharing a bed before their nuptials, an extra bed was brought in and placed in Kitori's small wing of the commander's quarters.

The night his parents (and the rest of the annoying general staff, including the pompous messenger whom Saki had humiliated in front of Kitori a short while back) had arrived to meet the Legendary Demons of Razgriz had been a study in chaos. Totally removed from the preparations Kitori and Saki had been asked-quite genteelly in Saki's opinion-to wear their formal uniforms. Saki balked and had tossed the requesting officer out of his office. Then he had stomped down to the reception hall and told the others in no uncertain tone of voice that there was no way in hell he was wearing a formal uniform to meet his parents and if anyone of the staff officers had a problem with his decision, they could take it up with him out behind the building.

No one took the prince up on his challenge.

And the night had been a raring success. Saki pulled a fast one and had Blaze and the rest of the Razgriz launch in their Raptors and sneak up on the small business jet the king and queen were aboard just outside of the capital city and dismiss the air force escort required by the senior command. Once that had been done, the Razgriz had escorted the jet all the way to the secret base with no fanfare.

Hearing Kitori clear her throat and indicate that she had something to say, Saki gave her leave to speak.

"Commander, Swordsman and Wildcat are on their way back with Riptide after rescuing and retrieving the aircrew of Tornado 404. Wildcat is on final approach with Swordsman about a mile and a half behind. Riptide Flight is a further two miles behind protecting the two aircraft. All members of that flight should be on the ground within the next ten minutes.", stated Kitori.

"Thank you Baroness Palvanoff. Once Simon and Snow are in their revetments and shut down, have their passengers report to me for their contracts. Give the crews ten minutes then have Riptide Flight along with Mickey and Marcus report to me so we can debrief. Get the rest of Wardog, Kazama, and Aba up there as well. They may be interested in hearing this.", replied Saki.

"Yes commander."

"And baroness, after that meeting I'll be performing an inspection tour of the base."

Saki watched as Kitori's face lit up in glee before she tamped it down. He knew that she'd somehow find a way to join him during his inspection tour. Since getting used to his new roommate, Saki had taken to allowing her join his dusk inspections as he meandered around the base enjoying the brilliant desert sunsets. Turning back to face the desert, Saki caught sight of Mickey's Tomcat as its main mounts touched down in a puff of tire smoke as the rubber met the concrete and asphalt runway. In the distance he could see Swordsman's fighter making its approach. Reaching into a pocket for his ever present pack of cigarettes, Saki slipped one into his mouth and torched it to life with his lighter. Dropping his hands to his side, the Heir Quarternary of the Royal Asranian Kingdom headed inside to meet his pilots. With one last wistful look at the blue sky, he closed the door behind him and entered the building.

**Revetment of Mickey Simon, Area 88. 1830 Hours.**

As the canopy of his Tomcat opened, an exhausted Mickey Simon undid the belts securing him to his ejection seat and started to climb down the boarding ladder placed against the side of his Tomcat by the ground crew. Glancing back at his backseat passenger as she stretched, Mickey got an eyeful of the respectful (if slightly small) rack on the woman who'd introduced herself as 'Stiletto' Nelson. Before he could react, a pair of startlingly blue eyes sized him up with a look. Taking in the appreciative look cast his way, Mickey tightened his stomach and nodded before climbing down the ladder. Blaze and his wife Edge were the first ones to meet him as he stepped onto the pavement of the ramp.

"Hi Mickey, heard you got in to a bit of a dust up? How'd it go?", asked Blaze as he passed Simon a bottle of water.

"It wasn't too bad. The real nasty part was at the end when the Tornado got harpooned with an Adder and forced the crew to punch out. They landed about 300 yards from a hardball running through the desert. Swordsman and I landed to scoop 'em up before the enemy could. Double Echo couldn't get the rotorhead rescue jockeys in to effect a pickup. Swordsman should be landing shortly. He was a few miles behind me when he got airborne. We were just lucky to yank them outta there this time.", replied Simon as he guzzled the water to ease his thirst.

"Snow just touched down. He should be here shortly with the other crewmember.", commented a flightsuit clad Kei Nagase-Thomas.

"That's good but the commander wants to see the Four Oh Four crew first, guys. Have Snow bring his passenger up to the commander's office when he's in and shut down. Saki wants to have a chat with the newbies. He'll call for the rest of you when it's time for the debrief.", called Kitori as she strolled up in her trademark light lavender flight suit.

Behind the baroness came a small group of the female pilots who'd been in the midst of their usual stalking of Kim Aba. Since the teenager had successfully ditched them after he landed, they'd gone in search of their new target Hans Grimm. The young pilot had made a severe impression on the women and they were starting to treat him like they'd treated Aba. Just last week, Archer had returned from a late night reconnaissance mission to find his room occupied by a brunette and a redhead hiding in his closet. Taking a page from his buddy Aba's book, Hans had begged Edge and Blaze to let him crash out in their quarters for a bit. Unfortunately, the couple had other plans and Archer ended up sacking out on the floor in Snow's room.

"You guys always bring us the best things. What are you going to think of next?", commented one of the unattached pilots to Blaze while staring at the woman now climbing down the boarding ladder from the backseat of the Tomcat.

Blaze chuckled as he remembered their arrival months earlier.

Flashback

Area 88 Revetments. Three Months Ago. 1315 hours.

_Blaze Thomas, formerly of the Osean Air Defense Force, climbed down the boarding ladder put against his Tigershark. In the distance he recognized the familiar long black hair and ever-present sunglasses approaching him as belonging to Commander Saki Vashtarl. The reason he and his wingmen were there had a large smile on his face as he welcomed the pilot known covertly as the King of Demons._

"_Hey Saki, how's things. Nice base you got here! Where'll the four of us bunk!", asked Blaze as Saki stepped up._

"Nice to see you again Blaze, everything's fine. Thanks for the compliment, I'll be sure to pass it on to the others. You and the rest of your contingent are bunked in barracks B. Like Shin and his wife, you and your wife will have your own shared private quarters while Archer and Swordsman get the normal single room. How does that sound?", answered Saki as the other three Wardog pilots showed up.

"_Fine commander, that sounds fine. Now if you'll excuse me for a moment. Hey you, yeah I'm talkin to you buddy!! Are you the groundcrew who keeps this revetment up to spec?"_

"Yessir, I'm the plane captain for this revetment.", replied the sullen man.

"_Good, when you download the travel pod on that hardpoint, be careful, it's got some important stuff in there. Wanna see?", stated Blaze as he ignored the rapidly shaken head while reaching into one of his flightsuit leg pockets for the church key he'd slipped in there before departing Heierlark._

_Blaze went over to the crewmen taking the pod off of its hardpoint and knelt on one knee. Using a key, he unlocked the pod and situated it so that no one could see what was inside. Reaching in to the interior of the pod, Blaze called out to the pissed off crew chief._

"_Anyone want an ice cold beer?", called Blaze as he tossed the frosty can he'd retrieved from the pile of ice inside the travel pod over to the bewildered man._

Seeing the confusion on the faces of the other two crewmen, Blaze reached in again and pulled out three more cans of amber richness; handing one to each of the crewmen for their trouble and appropriating the third for himself. Popping open the top of the can with his church key, Blaze tilted his head and tossed back a third of the can before telling the rapidly gathering ground crew to enjoy.

"_Since we didn't know the custom and are new here, my wingies and I decided to bring you hard working people a tangible reward. Each of our planes has a travel pod filled to the top with ice cold beer. Pass 'em around, share 'em with the other pilots. But above all that, be safe and enjoy yourselves. My people and I will download the pods carrying our personal gear.", Blaze said to the roar of the crowd._

_The other travel pods were quickly unloaded and divested of their precious liquid cargo. The cargo was dispersed to the eager crewdogs and none of the Wardog contingent had to unload their bags. Standing behind Blaze, Saki could only look on in amusement and humor. Blaze Thomas sure knew how to get the ground crews motivated to work on each and every plane on base with a fervor they usually had for making money. Like all of the pilots there, Blaze was expected to chip in and occasionally do his own maintenance on his Tigershark to save on costs, however, it looked like each time he did one of the groundcrew was always going to be there to supervise. Even old Gustav got in on the benefits, Blaze personally handed the older man a bottle of his favorite whiskey._

_From then on, there never was a dispute between the pilots and the guys who worked on the planes. Blaze, Gustav, and McCoy conspired to import several cases of beer and booze to the base in boxes marked 'cleaning supplies'. Saki turned a blind eye to it all. As long as the pilots were happy, he was happy. Besides, he really enjoyed the gift Colonel Bartlett had sent by way of Edge._

_Jack Bartlett sure knew how to pick a good bottle of Scotch._

End Flashback

"You can thank Simon and Snow for these two. I had nothing to do with them being here.", replied Blaze as he wrapped his arm around Edge and started walking away from the gathering of pilots.

Over in the PX, McCoy grinned to himself as he saw dollar signs flying through the sky. He knew that once word got around that there were two new females here, the single guys would stampede his shop to purchase gifts and trinkets for the ladies in vain hope of catching their eyes. It happened way back when Kitori Palvanoff first arrived on base all those years ago. It happened again when the new war started and many female pilots started making their way to Area 88 and again when the lovely Ryouko Kazama arrived. But from now until time eternal, the largest stampede was for when Kei Nagase-Thomas showed up with her wingmen. During that first week of her being on base, it was almost impossible for Edge to walk anywhere on base without a horde of guys following her every step of the way. It had taken a several fistfights and a mock two v ten dogfight by Edge and her husband to get the point across that she was utterly and completely off limits to the fawning men of Area 88.

Of course the attention paid to Edge by the men didn't go unnoticed by the other women on base. Some women, seeing that they were being ignored, grew insanely jealous of the former Osean Air Defense Force pilot and tried everything they could to get her to leave, but a few words and threatening glances from 'The Virgin Baroness' quelled that mutiny on the spot and halted the plans by two or three of the female pilots to steal Edge's most handsome husband from her. To this day there is one female pilot who just about runs to the other side of the room whenever Kei enters. This particular female will not speak of the events that happened the lone time she got assigned to fly as Edge's wingman on a big mission. The rumor speeding around the women's quarters was that the petite woman led her wingman into the absolute thick of the AA bursts and started dueling with both the SAM sites _And _the radar-guided anti-aircraft gun sites which the target was just saturated with.

When asked about that mission and the pilot in question, Edge would only smile a mysterious smile (a smile her husband and Wardog wingmen would say was reminiscent of the mysterious smile that graced Nastasya Bartlett's face) and changed the subject. When Edge changed the subject, everyone learned the hard way that she was not going to speak on it again.

2145 Hours Area 88 Cafeteria

Edge Nagase entered the cafeteria to grab a cup of coffee in preparation for a night reconnaissance mission she'd been assigned to fly. Looking around the room at the pilots hanging out and talking, the five foot six and a half inch pilot saw Kitori seated at one of the tables talking with the two new arrivals while enjoying a bowl of the delectable chocolate ice cream McCoy imported for the women of Area 88 (Kitori was one of his favorite customers when it came to ice cream orders. The weapons merchant cut a 60-40 split deal with Alicia the cook to store the cases of ice cream in the new freezer he'd ordered specifically for the ice cream) and strolled over to get acquainted.

"Hi Kitori, how's things going?", asked Kei as she placed her cup on the table and took a seat.

"Everything is fine. Just getting acquainted with the two nuggets and explaining how things go around here. How about you?"

"I'm doing fine, just getting a cuppa before going out on recon. I could use a wingman if you're interested."

"I wish I could go with you but the commander ordered me to get our newest recruits situated. Let me introduce you. Rosemarie Harris-White, Emily Nelson I want the two of you to meet the highest scoring female pilot on base, well highest scoring after me that is, Kei Nagase-Thomas. Kei, meet Rosemarie Harris-White formerly of the Royal Air Force and Emily Nelson, formerly of the United States Air Force.", stated Kitori as she finished her bowl of ice cream.

Edge shook hands with both of the women and told them that she was pleased to meet them. Both Rose and Emily replied in kind and added that they were happy to be here. Hearing the hidden hurt in Rosemarie's voice and seeing the wince she'd tried to hide, Kei glanced at Kitori and gave her a subtle nod. It was readily apparent to the Osean Ace that Harris-White was still feeling the loss of her beloved fighter. It was a pain that both Kei and Kitori could attest to.

"I'd be better if I still had my Tornado but I'm happy to still be alive. Dunno how I can help now without a fighter.", muttered Rose as she dipped her spoon into the cup of tea she'd gotten from the samovar on the counter by the coffee pot.

"Did you order one from McCoy, yet?"

"Yeah, we both gave him our orders. A Tornado F-3 for me and a late flight Block 50 F-16 Fighting Falcon for Emily. She used to be a Falcon driver back home.", commented Rose.

"Yeah, but that greedy bastard said it would take some time to find both planes and charged us three hundred grand apiece.", grumbled Emily from her seat to Kei's right.

Kitori and Kei nodded absently at the disgruntled words coming from the brown-haired woman. In the back of her mind, Kei wondered if she could get Blaze to talk to McCoy and lower the price. Running through the different scenarios in her mind, Kei saw that her plan wouldn't work since the old man had gotten wise to Blaze's attempts at circumventing him when it came to materials after Blaze slipped four million rounds of different calibers of cannon ammo in to Area 88 during an ammo shortage a month or so back. Sighing to herself at not finding a way to get the two women aircraft of their own so they could contribute, Edge noticed as Hans Grimm tried to sneak into the cafeteria to get something to eat. Giving Kitori a friendly kick under the table to get her attention, Kei subtly jerked her head at the door.

Kitori choked on what she was about to say when she saw where Kei was looking and tried to not let her gaze linger so she didn't give the young pilot's presence away to the other women in the room who had yet to notice the second target of their attentions. Repeating her words, Kitori hoped that Archer could get in and out without being noticed. It would have worked if Nelson hadn't inadvertently shifted her head towards the door three seconds after Archer entered.

Across the room, Hans 'Archer' Grimm was congratulating himself for ditching the group of women who'd been waiting for him when he'd exited the barracks to go get something to eat. He'd met up with Kim Aba (who had his own group of stalkers) and the two young men had ducked into the huge pilots lounge to elude their pursuers. Waiting for an hour or so and conversing with those pilots not out flying missions or sleeping, Archer had left to reach his final destination. Now inside the cafeteria and reveling in the fact that none of the gathered women inside had noticed him except for the baroness and Edge, Archer headed for the counter where Alicia was waiting.. He hadn't gotten three steps in the direction when his fears were realized. One of the women in the room had noticed him and was making a racket sure to draw his others stalkers in his direction.

Emily was starting to get bored with the canned welcome routine from the baroness and had allowed her mind and gaze to wander while tuning out the unnecessary words from Palvanoff. Looking around the room, Emily's attention focused on the nicely tanned young man who was just entering the room. It was readily apparent to her that the man (a pilot according to the flightsuit he wore) was trying to remain unnoticed. Bringing her eyes back to her tablemates Emily saw that both the baroness and the women introduced as Nagase had noticed the man and were trying to remain casual about it. On the other hand, Emily's friend Rose was completely oblivious to the attractive guy and was deep in thought about how she was going to afford a new fighter.

Deciding to rattle things a bit and find out why Palvanoff and Nagase were assisting the young man in his desire to remain unnoticed and to find out about him herself, Emily jumped up from her seat and-much to Edge and Kitori's chagrin-yelled to draw everyone in the room's attention.

"_Oh my gawd he is so fine!! Who is he!!"_

Kei groaned to herself as she saw her wingman go still as a rabbit before grabbing his plate and darting in the direction of the door. With her exceptional eyesight, Nagase saw Grimm grumble his dissatisfaction at being noticed. She agreed with his summation of the situation and repeated his words.

"Aww shit!", snapped Edge as she hurriedly rose from her seat.

With a quick glance at Kitori that spoke wonders, Kei lithely maneuvered out from her seat and started in the direction of the young man in a quest to try and beat the rest of the women in the room (who'd by now noticed Archer and were angling to catch the elusive pilot) to her old friend. With a quick toss of words over her shoulder, Kei followed Emily with a determined step. She reached the woman a few seconds after Emily reached Archer. Grabbing the back of Emily's flightsuit, Kei told Hans to find her husband and hang with him for a bit.

"Thanks Edge. I greatly appreciate it. See ya later!", replied Grimm as he hotfooted it in the direction of the barracks.

Ignoring the spluttering coming from the new arrival as she was dragged along; Kei stormed around the corner of the building and slung the other woman against the wall with a force that belied her small stature. Placing her hands on her hips and waiting for the baroness to arrive with Rose in tow, Edge gazed at Emily with a look that promised retribution. It was only interrupted when Kitori and Rose came around the corner; the former ignoring the irritated comments from the latter. Pinning Rose with a similar glare she was giving her friend Emily, Kei started in on a lecture she'd hoped to not give again.

"Okay, before we speak of anything else. There are some things that need to be straightened out. First off, there are three men here who are off limits to any and all women on base. I can tell from her attitude, Rose, that your friend is one who enjoys the company of men and has probably had numerous boyfriends and acquaintances. Am I right?", Edge started in a calm voice.

The embarrassment apparent on Emily's face was answer enough and Edge continued.

"Now as I was saying, here at Area 88 there are three men that every woman on base knows to keep away from. First off is the base commander, Commander Vashtarl. There are numerous reasons why the commander is off limits but I'll give you two. One he's the senior man on base and our boss. He's also the guy who signs our paychecks. The second reason is that the prince is betrothed. And before you ask, yes, his betrothed is here on base."

"What does the commander's fiancee do? Clean his quarters and make his meals?", growled Emily with her arms over her chest.

"Actually, I fly fighters out of Area 88 and have done so for quite a while now.", commented Kitori as she casually inspected her fingernails.

Emily kept quiet so Kei continued.

"The next man here who is off limits is my husband, Blaze Thomas. You met him earlier when you landed. He flies the lone F-20 Tigershark here. And he is the second-ranked Tigershark pilot in the world. Don't test him; he probably has forgotten more about air combat than you know. I know I have."

"Trust her when she says that ladies. Nagase was credited with over 200 aerial victories in six months of serious combat during the war between Osea and Yuktobania a few years back. Out of all the Hornet pilots in the world, she's the best. She's beat me in mock combat before and I'm considered one of the top ten female pilots in the world.", added Kitori as she leaned against the wall apparently finished with her fingernails.

Rose and Emily exchanged glances before returning their attention to the two women before them. In her mind, Rose was cursing her friend out for putting her in this predicament with her semi-man chasing ways. Rose knew that Emily didn't bed hop like some of the flight attendants they'd known during their airline careers. She just wanted a stable relationship with a nice guy. What many people didn't know about Emily (and what Rose had learned after knowing Emily for several years) was that Emily was a divorcee. Emily had divorced her husband several years ago after he'd admitted to having an affair with her former best friend for three years. It wasn't something Emily liked to talk about and Rose couldn't blame her. If she had been in the same situation, Rose could see herself being the same way. Bringing her attention back to the present, Rose listened as Nagase continued her lecture.

"The third and final man that none of the women here are allowed to make a pass at is Shin Kazama. He's the quiet pilot of the Tiger II with the Flaming Unicorn on its vertical stabilizer. He's also married and his wife is here as well. Unlike you, me, and the other women here; Ryouko Sugumo-Kazama isn't a pilot. She's a business woman and is the daughter of the owner of Yamato Airlines. She also is the head of their cargo division. Ryouko is the sweetest and classiest woman on base; just don't piss her off by going after her husband. She will make you pay for it."

Now slightly intimidated at the unspoken promise of danger if she went after any of the three men mentioned, Emily nodded at the other woman and wondered how much longer this lecture was going to go on. Luckily, Edge knew that she was needed on the flightline soon and decided to cut her lecture short. The Osean pilot said a few things about the guy who Emily had gone after in the cafeteria before finishing up and making her way to where the ground crew was prepping her Hornet for her flight. Kitori, Rose, and Emily watched Kei walk off for a bit before Kitori turned to other two and mentioned that their quarters were probably ready.

"Follow me and I'll show you to the quarters you're assigned in the women's barracks."

When the trio approached the building where the women of Area 88 (except for three exceptions) were quartered, Kitori passed them off to one of the other female pilots to show them where their rooms were. The pilot nodded in acknowledgment and introduced herself to the two new arrivals before issuing them their room assignments and showing them the way to their rooms. Emily balked at not being able to lock her room but her grievances were assuaged when she was told that the other female pilots trusted their sisters in the barracks. Rose and Emily acknowledged the comments and entered their respective rooms.

In her room Rose started to unpack her stuff and put it away where it belonged. She hung up her extra flightsuits in the closet and put her other clothes away in the dresser. When she was finished with putting her clothes away, Rose arranged the room to suit her fancy. Reaching into her bag for the last things she'd packed, Rose put the pictures of her family and former squadron mates on her dresser. The last photo she retrieved, Rose put on her desk next to the brand new laptop computer she'd bought before leaving London. The recruiters had said that the base had its own, though rarely used, internet hook ups. However, the system could only receive news from the world outside of the base so its pilots could keep up with the events in their homelands without exposing Area 88 to the world at large.

When she was finished with her unpacking and had made her bed with the provided sheets, Rose untied her flight boots and tossed them over by the door of the closet before unzipping her flightsuit and letting it drop to the floor at her feet leaving her wearing a long-sleeved t-shirt and panties. Going over to her dresser, Rose opened the third drawer and pulled out a pair of sweat pants and pulled them up over her long legs. Checking the small travel clock and seeing that it was nearing midnight, Rose turned out her light and climbed into bed. She was exhausted and had had a rough day. Wanting to be well-rested when she again talked to McCoy about ordering her a new plane later that morning, Rose went to sleep. The last thing she remembered before Mr. Sandman claimed her was looking at the lone picture frame on her desk. Situated in the frame was a picture of a younger, happier Rose in happier times with her arms around a tall, dark-skinned man wearing a brilliant ice-cream white sport coat and jeans.

"_**Oh where can you be, my beloved knight in dark armor. I miss you so much.",**__ were Rose's last thoughts as she drifted off into dreamland._

0945 Hours. Next Day. Briefing Room.

Rosemarie Harris-White entered the briefing room behind a few of the other pilots and made her way over to where her friend Emily had grabbed a pair of seats for the two of them. After a short greeting, she sat down and turned her attention to the other pilots in the room. Leaning against the far wall was a short, sandy-haired pilot standing next to Emily's daring rescuer from the day before. Both were wearing flight suits and seemed at ease with their chosen location. On the other side of the aisle and two rows up was the familiar light lavender flightsuit of Kitori Palvanoff who looked to be in deep conversation with the shorter Kei Nagase sitting next to her.

Turning her head to the back of the room, Rose was able to see the six foot four Tomcat pilot who'd scooped her up off of that unmarked dirt road with his arms crossed over his chest and his head down as if he was catching up on some sleep time. Beside him in a bright orange flightsuit with red trim and writing was the man whom she took to be Nagase's husband. The quiet man was chatting with Emily's young target from the night before and a younger, dark-skinned pilot who looked to be a teenager. Rose listened as Emily gave her an info dump on the young men.

"The guy with the turban is Kim Aba. He's the youngest pilot here and flies the Harrier II. I've heard that he was only fourteen or fifteen when he first arrived years ago and started flying for this mercenary force. Next to him is Hans 'Archer' Grim; he's one of the contingent from Osea along with Edge Nagase, the woman who hassled us last night, Blaze Thomas, the guy in the orange flightsuit, and your dark knight in shining armor Swordsman Snow, an Osean naval aviator. Rumor has it that the four of them were involved in that Cerean Conflict a few years back and came back as the highest scoring aces in the theater right behind those mysterious pilots known as the Ghosts of Razgriz. The pink-haired woman sitting next to Baroness Palvanoff is Ryouko Kazama, wife of the guy standing next to Mickey Simon on that far wall.", muttered Emily quietly but with a subtle but discernable lilt of excitement in the tone of her voice.

"I see, I see. Looks like we're in good company at least or will be when we get our own aircraft and get back to flying.. Do we know what's going on and why we've been called here?", asked Rose as she stared at the front of the room where she could see the commander's aide standing with a pointer in his hand.

"Dunno, I think there's an operation being planned. Some of the other pilots have told me that this room is where the commander tells everyone about missions given to us by high command. Usually Commander Vashtarl will ask for volunteers and let the crews know if they're any bonuses for completing the mission."

Rose nodded and continued her scan of the room. She noticed a bearded pilot in a brown flightsuit was listening to the jabber of some of the younger pilots around him with the ease of someone long accustomed to such idolatry. Returning her attention to the front of the room where the aide to the commander stood organizing some papers, Rose heard the commander enter the room and make his way to the front next to the map. The various conversations died down as pilots turned their attention to the front and prepared to listen to what the commander was going to say.

At the front of the room, Saki took a moment and looked at his gathered mercenaries and felt a sense of pride. Underneath his ever-present sunglasses Saki saw that Shin had reclaimed his usual spot on the wall to his left next to Mickey. At the back of the room Saki saw Blaze Thomas standing with Aba, Archer, and Swordsman waiting for the mission information. In the middle of the group of pilots sitting in the chairs to his left front, Saki saw Edge Thomas, Ryouko Kazama, and his betrothed sitting together and frowned a bit but let it drop. Ryouko knew she wasn't supposed to sit in on these briefings but he allowed it because her presence made some of the pilots feel confident that they were going to return in good shape. Mrs. Kazama was a sort of 'good luck' symbol to some of his younger pilots.

In the group of pilots seated to his right front, Saki saw the two new pilots: Rose Harris-White and Emily Nelson sitting patiently for whatever was coming. Saki applauded their attentiveness even though neither of them was going to be flying today. Clearing his throat, Saki gave the pilots his usual greeting.

"Good morning Mercenaries. Today we have a several missions to take part in. In four hours, the army will be sending three armor brigades out to Point Yankee to shore up the forces already there holding the line against the rebels. The rebel air force has been attacking the positions of the forces already there and the high command wants us to clean it up and relieve some of the heat beating down on them. Kazama, you and your unicorn and Blaze and his dragon are to lead the assault. You'll need a mix of air to air and air to ground ordinance to clean that area up. Intel reports that there are three regiments of rebel forces engaged with the defensive brigades with two brigades in reserve. I want you to completely obliterate them.", started Saki.

"Yes sir. We'll pick our people after the briefing. What's the pay?", asked Blaze as he placed his hands on his head.

"The usual; I've been authorized to offer a bonus of 75,000 per pilot upon mission completion. Leo will have the details. The next mission is a recon in force up north by two suspected rebel air bases. Kitori, you and Edge lead a flight of four up in that area so we can find out what's going on. If there is evidence of rebel air operations, you know what to do. However, bringing that information back is top priority. I was going to assign the crew of the Strike Eagle for that mission however they're going to be needed somewhere else. Talk to Gustav and see if he can get one of the Tomcats rigged for the recon mission."

"I'll fly that mission with Edge and Kitori, commander. I'll just need a backseater to run the cameras on the TARPS Pod.", commented Swordsman as he lifted his head.

"I see. Are there any volunteers to fly in Swordsman backseat? I'll toss in an extra forty-five thousand for whoever volunteers."

Seeing no takers, Rose timidly raised her hand. Saki saw and called on her.

"I'll fly in Swordsman's backseat. I gotta do something to make some money somehow.", Rose replied.

"Good, I'll have you fly with us, Rose. Now that that is settled, let me move on to the next mission. It's going to be a rough one. Mickey you're leading those crews assigned to that mission. You already have Catfish and Coyote in the Strike Eagle as the leader of your attack group. Who else do you think you'll need? I can't give you Kim because he's needed here for defense. I have a feeling that Blaze and Shin are going to snatch Archer up. His Red Stag will be an unbeatable asset for them."

"I'll take Greg and the rest of his flight. They're accomplished attackers and everyone knows that Greg has such an intimate acquaintance with the ground that it pines for him everytime he flies. As for the rest of the top cover, put Nelson in a Tiger II and she can fly my wing. Gimme some of those Crusader pilots to round out my cover group and that should be enough.", replied Simon as he lifted his hands and shrugged his shoulders while listening to the laughter from his friendly dig at the bearded Dane.

Saki nodded and finished up after passing on some extra tidbits of information to his flight leaders. Turning everything else over to Leo so he could finish, Saki strode down the aisle and out the door. Shortly after that the pilots filtered out of the room and headed their separate ways to get ready for their respective flights. Edge caught up to Rose in the hallway and pulled her off to the side.

"Rose, see if you could ask Blaze to talk to McCoy about cutting the price of your order for a new fighter. My husband has certain….cachet when it comes to negotiating with the old fart for equipment. He already conned McCoy into calling our contact and asking for an aircraft to fill an order for the prince. Maybe, McCoy could get our contact to toss in a new Tornado for you and a Falcon for your friend. Yeah, it'll cost but the price hopefully won't be as high as it could be.", stated Edge as she patted the other woman on the shoulder.

"Alright, I'll do that. Let me grab Emily and together we'll talk to your husband and ask him to talk to McCoy. Hopefully, once I get a new fighter, I can start taking on some of the higher paying missions.", replied Rose.

"Good, now go get your new torso harness and g-suit. Swordsman is waiting for you and he's not the most patient of men.", added Edge with a smile before dashing off to meet up with Kitori to start planning their flight.

Outside the building, Snow was chatting with Blaze as the latter made his way towards the revetment where his Tigershark was being fueled and armed. Blaze carried his g-suit and harness on his shoulder while his helmet was held by the chinstrap in his left hand. Looking up at the taller pilot with a teasing grin on his face, Blaze rode Snow about his new-albeit temporary-backseater.

"She looks good Snow, damn good. Make sure you pay attention to your flying and not to much to her."

"Stifle it meathead! I know my job. Right now she's just another pilot to me, nothing more, nothing less. This is a one time thing. The commander assigned me the recon run and I'm going to get it done. Now beat it, I gotta check the TARPS pod on my bird and make sure Gustav's ground crews loaded it just right. Luckily I'll have Edge and Kitori flying top cover for me. I can't carry any weapons except my nose gun when I'm toting one of those pods."

Blaze nodded before entering the revetment his fighter was waiting. Waving at his friend and wingman, Blaze stepped over to his bird and started putting on his torso harness and wriggling his way into his g-suit. Once that was done and situated, he saw Shin talking to Gustav over by his Tiger II and headed in that direction. Meanwhile, Rose was talking to her gushing friend.

"You be careful, up there Emily. Remember the main asset of the F-5 is its maneuverability and low speed cornering. If you get drawn into a dogfight, use those assets to make it an angles fight and not an energy fight. Let the 'Cat and the Eagle handle the energy fights. You get down there with the Crusaders and make the enemy play the angles game. Also, trust that Tomcat driver; he seems as if he has a good head on his shoulders. Work as a team and guard his back as needed.", said Rose as the pair of them headed for the PX to get the necessary harnesses and g-suits.

"I know Rose. I know. I'll watch my six and flame anybody who comes up with evil in their hearts. It's been awhile since I last flew a Tiger but I believe I can still remember how to handle one. On your mission let the big guy do the driving, you just get the pictures the commander needs and get outta there. The two of you will be for all intents and purposes unarmed. Continuously check your radar for bogies and be aware that there may be a hellacious air defense system guarding your target.", replied Emily as they entered McCoy's domain.

An hour later, the D model Tomcat carrying Rose launched on its mission.

**Tigershark Zero-One-Six. Airborne over southern route to target.**

Blaze Thomas checked his switches and made sure his missiles were armed and hot before securing his oxygen mask to his helmet with a gloved hand. Glancing out the port side of his cockpit, he could see the three other fighters in his flight as they maneuvered. He could tell that the Phantom flying his wing was at maximum military speed from the dark exhaust trail that all but disappeared when the big J-79's were put into afterburners. The Viggens to his left were cruising sedately at a more moderate speed but still managing to keep up. Checking his radar, Blaze saw the contacts that were Shin's flight (Shin's Tiger II along with an elderly F-8 Crusader in dire need of an overhaul, and a Falcon with an old F-100 Super Saber as his wingman.).

Blaze also checked up on the flights of A-7 Corsair II's, A-6 Intruders, A-4M Mongooses (souped up A-4 Skyhawks that were a dream to fly according to Greg), F-105 Thunderchiefs (a.k.a. Thuds), and A-10 Warthogs with their JAS Draken backups as they organized themselves in preparation to attack on Shin's command. Flexing his fingers on his control stick, Blaze prepared himself for the upcoming battle.

"Zero-Zero section to all flights, target's in sight; double check your switches and keep your eyes peeled, Little Sammy reports intermittent contacts to the north. Inferno Flight, I suggest you break west for a few klicks then back south to avoid them and set up for your runs. Take half of the attackers with you while the other half stays with me. We'll make this an all points attack from every conceivable direction. Blaze, confirm and identify those intermittent contacts as they bear. Weapons free on all radar contacts.", radioed Shin as he waggled his wings and got his wingmen to move into a combat spread.

"Copy that Zero-Zero section. Inferno Flight; break left and gain some altitude. Buccaneer flight follow suit. Privateer flight, follow Zero-Zero section. Alright guys and gals you heard the boss. Let's go find out who's snooping around to the North. Watch yourselves, they may be reinforcements for the rebel units engaging our forces.", stated Blaze as he moved his stick smoothly to the left and back so as to gain the height advantage.

Blaze listened as his wingmen acknowledged and allowed himself a small smile of satisfaction. These pilots, some of them flying vastly outdated aircraft, were equivalent to some squadrons in the O.A.D.F. After three months of flying with these modern day barnstormers, he could trust them to act recklessly on the ground yet be professional in the air. Bringing his thoughts back to the mission at hand, Blaze increased his speed.

Twenty minutes later, he was listening as Shin and his flight of four ran into what he described as an umbrella of MiG's flying top cover for the rebels and slashed through them on their way to the target. Blaze knew that Shin and the survivors of his attack would face the same fighters as they egressed but without the added weight of the bombs, Shin and his surviving attackers would be more than a match for the remaining rebels.

"I'm wondering where the new stuff is though. From Shin's reports it's apparent that his group is running into the Fishbeds, Frescoes, Fagots, and Fitters. Where the hell are the Floggers, Fencers, Fantans, and Frogfoots? Are they the intermittants in my sector that Little Sammy reported? Or are we gonna run into the Flankers, Floggers, Fulcrums, and Mirages? This ain't good. Inferno Flight listen up: I want everyone to move into a combat spread. Zero-Zero Section has engaged enemy air forces however, from the sound of it, it's not the forces we were expecting. I want sharp eyes on every sector of sky and if you see anything, don't be afraid to sing out. Buccaneer Flight, I need you to pour on the coals and press on to the target. I know that we're supposed to be attacking from every axis but scope out the target upon your arrival and adjust your attack vectors accordingly. Something ain't right here. Inferno Two-One you and Two-Two cover Buccaneer as they make their run. Inferno One-Two and I will hang back and watch for the sucker punch. Keep a wary eye on those intermittent bogies to our ten o'clock. They might be the ones Little Sammy was warning us about. If they make a run and we can get an ID, we'll cover your six. Buccaneer, this is a one pass, haul ass strike. Once your ordinance is dropped, get low, get fast, and follow the Thuds out. With their bombs gone, they can't be caught by the MiG's presently defending the target. If the enemy start tracking, I want you hemorrhaging ECM.", radioed Blaze as he flexed his fingers again.

"Inferno Two-One copies.", responded the leader of his second element

"Buccaneer Lead copies.", added the Attack Package Leader in his gaily decorated Corsair II.

Blaze double clicked his mic in acknowledgement before climbing to a higher altitude with his wingman and watched as the pair of Viggens accelerated off into the distance. Several miles behind them came the hard-charging mini-Crusader containing the leader of his attack package. Shaking his head at the dire thoughts that were starting to float through his mind, Blaze wondered how Shin was doing at the moment.

At the same time as Blaze sent his flights ahead to strike the target, Shin was putting a Sidewinder up the ass of a persistent MiG-19 Fagot that had been pestering him with his activities. Shin's flight of fighters had sliced through the enemy formation like a dose of salts through a goose and created a wide enough hole so that the remaining attack package could get through with a reasonable chance of success. At the outset, he'd wanted to blast through, drop his load of bombs, and fight his way out. Unfortunately the enemy had other ideas. The minute his easily recognizable Tiger II crashed the line, he and his wingmen had been jumped by several rebel fighters who forced Shin to jettison his bombs and deal with them. Shin had made two of those pay for their misplaced valor with matching Sidewinders while his second element continued with their mad dash towards the target and his wingman turned to cover his tail.

Shin watched emotionless as the persistent bugger was blotted out of the sky in a sizeable explosion before turning on the Fishbed that was spitting bullets in his direction. The blonde Japanese national chanced a glance at the green and yellow vertical stabilizer of the old Crusader of his wingman and smothered a grin as the old plane lived up to its nickname 'The MiG Master'. With four cannons spitting out 20MM shells at a still frighteningly respectable rate, the Crusader shredded the Fresco he'd been stalking.

"Hey Bug Juice, you alright over there in that old bird?", Shin radioed his wingman.

"But of course messieur Tiger II. Thees low-born fools have forgotten ze nickname of my beloved old bird. Even with my engines in need of an overhaul, I can still give these enemies, those that live that is, nightmares.", came the French-accented English of his wingman Etienne Claus.

Shin chuckled to himself under his oxygen mask. As a former Crusader pilot himself, Shin knew that in its element, there wasn't much from its era of aviation that could beat The Last of the Gunslingers. Checking his watch, he saw that his attack package should be returning from their attack shortly. In the distance, he could see the dark clouds of smoke boiling up from the ground signifying that at least some of the rebel vehicles had been hit. Glancing around and seeing that he wasn't the present target of anyone, Shin radioed Blaze.

"Zero-Zero section calling Inferno Lead, come in Inferno."

"Inferno lead copies Zero-Zero Section. What do you want, Shin, I'm busy over here.", came Blaze's reply.

Shin could hear the gasps and groans as his Osean friend compensated for the g's affecting him as he maneuvered for a shot.

"Just checking on your attack package to see if they'd hit the target yet. Privateer has delivered the goods but it doesn't look as if they hit the target hard enough."

"Buccaneer has reached the initial point and is rolling in to attack. Give it some time; they got bounced as they approached the IP. Inferno Two-One and Two-Two are covering them. My wingman and I are engaged with a quintet of nasties that are giving us a run for our money. Looks like Fantans and Fencers are here playing watchdog. I don't like it though, we're in Flanker and Fulcrum territory and yet we haven't seen nary a one of those. Makes me worry that Buccaneer Flight and Inferno Two-Two are gonna run into a gauntlet as they egress."

"I concur with your assessment, this doesn't look good. I had to jettison my load to fight. Still, I got maybe one missile and a three-quarter load for my nose guns so I can hang in a bit longer but only until Privateer Flight completes their egress. Then I'll have to bugout. Hopefully I'll have enough internal fuel to return to Double Echo."

"Yeah, I understand …._shit_ on a friggin shingle; where in the hell did the fucking rebels get Forgers? Awww ducknuts, this blows whale chunks! Zero-Zero section sorry to cut you short but I gotta go. A flight of Yak-38 Forgers are joining the festivities and I gotta protect my attack package. _Inferno Two, forget that damn Fishbed and waste that damn Forger, he's more of a threat right now! _We'll continue this later Zero-Zero section; Inferno One, out."

Shin looked at his radar screen and started counting as the first Mongooses of Privateer Flight sped away from the target. From his position up high, he could see that the nimble subsonic aircraft had the throttles firewalled so they could all out. Behind them came the two seat Intruders with their bulbous noses and exposed refueling probes. Shin gave the escaping jets a call.

"Zero-Zero section to Scooter at my nine o'clock for thirty, can you give me an assessment?"

"Scooter to Zero-Zero section, we hit the place but didn't have time to get a BDA. As soon as we dropped the sky lit up with flak and MANPADS aplenty. We lost a couple of Scooters and a 'Truder but the rest made it out. The Hogs and Sluf's dropped and decided to strafe to give the rest of the Scooters and Intruders a chance to escape. The Drakens are high cover but that's not a guarantee of safety. One of the 'Truder's spotted what looked to be tracks for a SAM trailer leaving the area but wasn't able to confirm."

"Copy that, Scooter. If you have any 20MM remaining I need you to cover the Intruders on your six from ground based attacks. They don't have cannons and can't shoot back. Thanks for your sitrep. I'll contact Privateer Lead and see if I can get an assessment from him. He's in Sluf 305 and according to you, the Sluf's should still be strafing. See you at home, Scooter."

"Yes sir. See you at home. We'll protect the Intruders with us the best we can sir and we'll open up the bar upon arrival. Good luck, Zero-Zero Section."

Shin clicked his mic twice and returned to the fight. Dropping in behind another MiG that was working to get a lock on the Crusader pouring 20mm fire into the belly of his wingman, Shin fired a burst from his cannons. Seeing the bright flashes where his armor piercing incendiary rounds struck the enemy and correcting his aim, Shin fired again and walked his next burst from the rear fuselage to the middle of the wing. A dirty black cloud preceded a brilliant orange and yellow flash that lit up the sky as his enemy's plane blew up rather spectacularly.

"Thanks Messieur Unicorn, that blighter of a pest was becoming a bit of a bother. Now I can concentrate on the batard in my sights.", called Etienne as he pulled the trigger and sprayed his target with about thirty rounds.

"Copy that. Now hurry up and finish him off. The rest of Privateer should be blasting through here any minute. And I still need a bomb assessment."

On the other side of the battlefield, Blaze was gritting his teeth and trying to cancel the check on the leader of the Forger flight but he was having a hard time doing so. Blaze knew that the Yak-38 Forger and its successor the Yak-141 Freestyle were the Russian and Yuktobanian answers to the venerable Sea Harrier, Harrier, and Harrier II. Although they weren't as technologically advanced as their opposites in western countries, the Forgers and Freestyles did have an advantage over the Harriers: they were faster and could break the sound barrier albeit not by much. Those pilots used to fighting against the subsonic Harrier would have a hell of a time dealing with the Forger.

Blaze had already downed two of the semi-nimble fighters while his wingman had morted another. When Inferno Two defeated his Forger with a close-range missile shot, Blaze had sent him in to cover the pair of Viggens with his attack package. He figured that they needed the extra help over the enemy positions and the Phantom crew could strafe targets of opportunity as it performed its dance of speed and death.

"Come on baby, lock up on this bastard!! I need to get over there and he's causing me to be late for this date. Damn he's good! Lock up, lock up, lock up, lock up….yeah I gotcha!! Fox Two Fox Two, Missile Away!", yelled Blaze as he fired his last Sidewinder and watched it track unerringly to its target and struck it dead on in the fuselage where the lift engine was buried.

Blaze caught a glimpse of the canopy blowing off the Forger as its pilot rode the rocket seat and escaped the fiery object that had been his fighter half a second before. Seeing no enemies around, Blaze pushed his throttle into Zone 5 and hurried towards the now heavily smoking target area to contribute however piecemeal and get an assessment of the damage caused by their ordinance. He knew that he was risking his remaining fuel supply, but Blaze also knew his Tigershark inside and out and he bet he could milk it for all its worth and return to Area 88 to land with maybe thirty pounds of fuel left.

**F-15C Eagle Airborne. 1200 Miles Away.**

Hans Grimm barrel rolled his fighter to avoid the burst of fire from the Su-33 Super Flanker that had dove into the furious furball over the target. He forced the Flanker to overshoot and speed past him before banking in behind the enemy and firing a burst from the cannon mounted in his right wing. Archer saw his tracers fall behind the Flanker as it broke hard left and cursed his miss. Checking his radar and comparing it to what he could see outside of his cockpit, the young pilot saw that Mickey was launching another missile at a rapidly departing Mirage 2000.

Archer observed the dark cloud from the missile hit before looking around for another target. He'd been surprised when Shin and Blaze hadn't picked him for their attack mission and allowed him to fly with Mickey instead. It had been a kind of reward from the two aces to allow him to earn more flying in a position of seniority as the number two in charge of the fighter cover.

"Rampage, Boner chase off those Fulcrums, otherwise Greg's assault group is gonna be massacred as they roll in! Catfish, you and Coyote take out the remaining gun emplacements! They took out several of the attackers before they could even hit the IP! Some of our people in damaged machines gotta fly right back over that area to depart the area! I want them to be able to dash through there after they come off target!! Nelson get after those dammed Mirage F-1's they've become quite the annoyance! Greg, what's the word?", growled Archer over the radio.

"We've engaged those -29's. Scratch two, got two left!" – retorted Rampage from his Falcon.

"Most of the gun emplacements are out of commission. We gotta make another pass to get the remainder!" - replied Catfish as his backseater reported the decreasing range.

"Ha, those Mirages are running! Cowardly bastards! Oh wait, they're reengaging. I'll take care of them." – Nelson

"Archer we got owned. Those dammed guns took out a third of my force before we even hit the target! We're dropping now but it looks like the damage ain't gonna be much. The remainder of the attack squad is hauling ass after their loads come off. Oh yeah, we got a massive secondary!! We're gonna make tons of cash with that hit!! Archer, I'll see if those of us who have guns can make a strafing run on the target!" - called Greg as he rolled in to pickle off his remaining thousand pound bombs.

"No Greg, don't strafe, you and the remnants of your flight will be diced to pieces by the remaining flak cannons. Just roll in, drop your eggs, and escape to the south at max speed. Catfish will cover you once he's done. I think he still has some air to air missiles left.", Mickey cut in as he dealt with another rebel fighter.

The Skyhawk pilot double clicked his mic and firewalled his throttles as he jinked to and fro to avoid the bullets being hurled his way. Seeing that he couldn't climb without getting hammered by the flying lead and he couldn't stay on the path he was because it was suicide to stay at the same altitude for more than a minute, Greg did the only thing he could and dove his aircraft until he was flying beneath the roof level of some of the buildings in the area. The enemy gunners on those building had to fire down on his plane as he passed at over 500 knots. Often times they missed and hit the building across the way from them but sometimes their rounds connected.

Greg growled his displeasure at being so low. His poor Skyhawk was getting peppered with lead. Keeping his throttles pinned, Greg yanked his control stick back into his gut and sent the nimble little plane screaming for altitude. Alternately jamming his feet down on the rudder pedals allowed him to maneuver in an unpredictable manner and escape relatively unscathed from the valley of lead. Checking his instruments with eyes trained by years of experience in such situations and a flying sense that could tell him what was wrong with his plane by the tiniest little jolt, Greg saw that even though he'd taken a few rounds, his Scooter would be able to make it home to the roost for repairs.

"Man I oughta have Gustav upgrade my Skyhawk to Mongoose specs so I won't find myself in a similar situation. I almost didn't make it through that crowd.", commented Greg as he proceeded to put some distance between him and the target.

In his Tomcat, Mickey checked his radar and saw that all of Greg's Squad who'd survived the attack had made it out and were on their way home. Looking out of his cockpit for his wingmen, Simon saw that the members of his flight were the only aircraft remaining in the sky as the bloodied rebel forces bugged out to fight another day. Pointing the nose of his aircraft in the direction of home and increasing his speed, Simon mentally tallied the losses his group had sustained against the damage they'd inflicted. What he came up with depressed him. They had done quite a bit of damage, yes. But the price had been extremely high. Some of the casualties had been around for awhile and their experiences and expertise were going to be sorely missed.

"_**Shin and I may need to talk Saki into having Blaze and the rest of the Razgriz to start flying escort missions. With their experience the four of them would increase the survival rate of the pilots they're protecting by at least twenty percent. Moral will be going down with the losses we sustained today and on other missions. A victory is what is needed to boost the morale of the rest. If they see that the Razgriz are still carrying the fight to the enemy, the pilots will be inspired to continue doing what they do with the knowledge that death lurks around every corner."**__, thought Mickey as he continued his journey home._

1732 Miles East of Simon's Position.

Kei 'Edge' Nagase-Thomas kept her head on a swivel as her flight approached the area to be reconed. The day was beautiful and so far it had been a milk run. Over in her Super Hornet, Kitori had been bitching about the lack of action on this mission. Kei guessed that it was the lack of another kind of action that was grating on the nerves of the baroness. Shifting her gaze over to the Tomcat with the distinguished looking but shabbily dressed fedora wearing figure on its port side vertical stabilizer, Nagase couldn't help but grin at Snow's chosen tail art. She knew that it was the insignia of his first squadron but it looked so ridiculous to her.

Letting her thoughts wander to the woman who'd volunteered to fly in Swordsman's backseat, Kei wondered if she was really up to the task before her. She'd recognized the tall woman as one of the two she had explained the facts of Area 88 life to the night before and it looked like the lesson had taken well. Glancing at the mission clock and mentally comparing it to the watch on her wrist, Kei called Kitori on the radio.

"Kitori, this is Edge, looks like we're slightly ahead of schedule. Why don't we set up so Snow can make his photo run? It looks quiet; hopefully it'll stay that way.", Kei stated as she banked her Rhino and set up an orbit just north of the town.

"Yeah, however, if things go wrong, I got a full house of 'winders and -120's to give whomever crashes the party.", replied Kitori cheekily.

"Alright you two, stop your yammering!! I'm gonna need full concentration on this and between you and Ms. Trigger Happy over there, it ain't gonna happen. Freelancer 110, remember I'm unarmed here and will be going at Mach 2+ to get these pictures. You think you can keep up as I make my run, youngster?", commented Snow as he aimed his plane at the target thirty-five miles distant.

"Geez old man; even with my weapons load I can keep up with you any day of the week. You get the pictures and I'll make sure you have a nice MiG free day.", returned Nightewolfe Smith as he positioned himself behind and to the right of the other Tomcat.

"_**Great, everyone's a comedian now.", **__mused Marcus as he started his run._

"Photodawg One starting my run", radioed Snow as he lit his burners and angled towards the target.

In the backseat, Rose was rapidly flipping switches to activate and focus the cameras in the TARPS pod so that the pictures could be studied by the Area 88 analysts to see what the rebel forces were preparing to do. Before take-off, Swordsman had given her a basic lesson about the camera pod as well as what each switch did. During the flight, Rose had played with the system until she'd become fairly proficient in its use. Now as the Tomcat she was riding in sped towards the target area she programmed and activated the system. Rose also told the system to send any photos that caught her eyes (such items of interest as weapons, people, aircraft, etc.) to her screen where she could peruse them and start her own analysis while still snapping pictures.

Keeping her eyes peeled for any suspicious activity as well as any unidentified contacts that showed up on her radar screen, the former Tornado pilot allowed herself a moment of peace.

Over in Freelancer One-One-Zero, Nightewolfe Smith and his backseater followed their element lead as he blasted along at about Mach 2.25. With his pilot busy trying to keep them from dropping too far below the briefed altitude, Gavin 'Big Eyes' Talvert studied the radar screen for any airborne contacts other than their wingmen. So far the screen was as clear as day. There was a commercial flight cruising just outside the contested airspace heading away from Tel Aviv but it looked to be of no consequence. Glancing down at his kneeboard, Talvert compared the callsign of the flight to the list he'd written down before they'd launched and confirmed that it was a commercial Lockheed L-10-11 Tristar flying at four hundred sixty knots as it climbed to its assigned altitude at 32,000 feet. He lifted an eyebrow when he saw that the aircraft belonged to the cargo division of Yamato Airlines.

"Hey Wolfe, it looks like one of Ms. Ryouko's cargo aircraft is busy transporting goods hither and yon.", Talvert passed up to his pilot.

"Really? Cool! Where is it?", replied Wolfe as he continued maneuvering his plane to keep up with Swordsman Snow.

"Radar has him at bearing 285 for three hundred miles. It looks like he's climbing to flight level thirty-two. He's no factor to us, flying out over the gulf like that."

"Good, my hands are full enough up here. I don't need a bus driver stumbling into this war and getting shot down. That would not be good."

Gavin nodded as he took a sip of water from one of the baby bottles sitting in one of his flightsuits pockets. Gustav and his mechanics were gracious enough to fill them up for every pilot on base and dispense them from a freezer thirty minutes before each pilot sortied. Sometimes they filled the bottles with iced tea, lemonade, kool-aid, or Gatorade. Other times they were filled with water. Each pilot had three bottles with their names on them and usually gave the ground crew a list with their preferred liquid refreshment when they returned from a mission. Gavin grumbled in annoyance when he remembered that the -105's with Blaze and Shin had a bottle and a hose to suck on while in flight while he and his pilot had to make due with baby bottles.

"Hey boss, when we get back; think you can ask Gustav to add a couple of bottle holders to our cockpit to hold a larger bottle of water when we fly? These baby bottles ain't cuttin' it. I always run out of water way before my thirst dies.", commented Big Eyes as he kept one eye on the sky and one eye on the radar screen.

"Sure, I'll talk to him about it. It'll probably cost us though. Maybe we can talk to one of those Thud drivers into letting us get a peek inside his cockpit to take a look at how their bottle holders are arranged. That'll help a lot. I know exactly how you feel.", replied Nightewolfe from up front.

Three miles away from the speeding Tomcats, the two Hornets of Kei and Kitori were lazily inscribing arcs in the sky as they waited for the reconnaissance run to finish. So far they hadn't been challenged by any enemies and were patiently biding their time. Like Talvert, The two women had taken notice of YAL Six-Five-Six Heavy as it went about its flight path. Kitori had made a comment to her friend that had Kei laughing at the subject of the matter.

"I wonder what Ryouko would say if she knew that one of her companies' Tristars was flying just in the area? You think she'd check her schedule of flights to see if the crew was on time or not?", snorted Kitori as she maneuvered her aircraft around the sky.

"Actually Kitori, I'd wonder more about what her employees would say if they found out she was here in Asran. Now those would be the reactions to see.", returned Kei as she again checked her radar for enemy contacts.

Securely situated in her cockpit, Edge was a bit concerned about the lack of activity in the area. According to Intelligence, these two airbases were supposed to be hotbeds of rebel activity. That alleged activity is what this recon flight is supposed to be finding out. Not letting her concerns slip into her voice, Edge mentioned her observations to Kitori. Not surprisingly, Kitori was worried as well but hid her concerns a bit better.

"These two airfields have no protective CAP flying overhead. We aren't getting painted by any fire control radars nor are we even getting a verbal challenge from the enemy. They can't miss who we are and what we're doing here so why aren't they watching this area better?", asked Kitori.

"There are only two reasons I can think of that the enemy wouldn't have air cover. One is that the believe we aren't enough of a threat even though we are getting photographic Intel of our own or the pilots at those airfields are so good that they're waiting for us to finish our mission and head for home.", replied Kei as she saw the blips on her radar that stood for the two Tomcats trying to get as many pictures as possible.

In her mind, Kei thought of one other reason why they weren't being attacked by the rebels on the ground. Someone high up in their command structure could be attempting to get intelligence on the quartet of planes flying in their area to report to somebody. It wasn't the greatest leap of faith to imagine that the Belkan aces who'd escaped the clutches of both the Osean and Yuktobanian Intelligence organizations after the war were observing them as they flew, seeing if their most hated enemies had been contacted by a representative of the Asranian Kingdom to come fly and fight for Asran.

"_**If that's what's going on, then somewhere below us is Mobius and he's just watching us. Biding his time until his analysis is done. Damn, damn, damn, damn!! If we're attacked now, I can't fight like I usually due. If I did, that would be a big flashing red neon sign to that gold-helmet wearing bastard that we're here. Aghh, Crappola!", **__mentally fumed Edge as she hoped Swordsman had come to the same realization she had about the lack of activity._

In his Tomcat, Swordsman was getting a not so fresh feeling as he continued his flight. He'd been listening as Rose had narrated the photo run as the pictures showed up on one of her repeater screens as the pod took a photo. Like Edge, Marcus had also come to the conclusion that somebody was observing the flight and gathering information on the pilots. Swordsman had said as much to his temporary backseater as they finished their third run over the two airfields separated by at respectable distance. Yet Marcus noticed that, due to the orientation of the fields, two squadrons from each base could cover both airfields in a pinch if need be. That did not bode well for any attack attempt on either field. The attackers would just be overwhelmed by the defending fighters the minute they were detected.

"_**If Saki and the rest of the Asran High Command wanted either of these airbases taken care of, those attacking would have to use stealth fighters to get past the radar so that none of the defenders could scramble in time to protect either field.", **__ thought Swordsman as he brought his aircraft around to begin his fourth and final recon run over the target._

Marcus' musings were cut short when Rose piped up from the backseat.

"I'm glad that we're almost finished here. This has probably been the most nerve racking mission I've ever had the honor of being on. No enemy fighters to challenge us. No paints from a fire control radar system, no nothing. It's abnormal."

"Yeah, I know. The only action I've seen is the take-offs of several helicopters including one Mi-24 Hind. And it took off casually as if it was just an everyday thing for that helo crew. Stuff like that makes me worried that we're gonna have a helluva greeting party when we turn towards Double Echo.", commented Marcus in reply as he cast another look around his instrument panel.

"I know that feeling real well.", returned Rose as she shifted her attention to the radar.

A few minutes later, the run was finished and Swordsman came out of burner. His sprints in Zone Five during each run had reduced his fuel level to maybe 1300 pounds above bingo. That extra bit of gas would give him enough fuel to return to Area 88 with maybe some left over. Leaning back in his ejection seat and taking his hands off the controls, the six four pilot flexed his fingers to get the blood flowing through them smoothly again.

While her pilot was flexing his fingers, Rose was tuning the radar system to show any threats in the immediate area. She called over to Big Eyes Talvert in the backseat of their compatriot Tomcat and requested any bogey information they had. When the call came back that there were no aerial bogeys, Rose switched the radar to Pulse Doppler mode and tasked it to search the area. Once that was done, she switched the TARPS pod from active to standby in preparation for shutting it off upon their return to Double Echo.

"Swordsman to Edge: Mission Complete. Photodawg One returning to base. "

"Copy that Photodawg One. We'll rendezvous on your flight as you pass by. Remember to keep altitude separation so we deconflict. Kitori and I will remain at angels 45 and keep an eye on your six."

"Copy that. Thanks Edge. I'll keep my flight at angels 37 so we're out of your way. Swordsman out."

"Edge out."

At thirty four thousand feet of altitude, Edge rocked her wings. Kitori saw the motion and acknowledged it with a double click of her mic. Moving her aircraft a mile away and fifteen hundred feet above her flight lead, Kitori waited for the pair of Tomcats to come zipping by at or around five hundred knots. When they sped by, their gleaming grey bodies enhanced by the colorful vertical stabilizers glinting in the sun, the baroness took a moment to observe what some called the best fighter in the world in its natural element. Bringing her attention back to the job at hand, Kitori followed her flight lead when they reversed course and settled in behind the pair of Tomcats about a mile or so in trail.

Still keeping her attention on her radar screen while flying, Edge hoped her husband's mission went well. Ever since their arrival, whenever she wasn't flying with Ian, Kei worried about his welfare. She kept her worries to herself behind a mask of little emotion but her friends could always tell her state of mind when Blaze was flying. Ryouko Kazama was exceptionally well at seeing through Kei's mask. Kei figured that the heir to Yamato Air Lines could see her own worry about her husband mirrored in Kei's eyes.

"_**And I know it's harder for her because she's not a pilot. At least I can fly and know what Blaze faces; Ryouko doesn't know the exhilaration Shin feels when he's flying. Or maybe she knows of the exhilaration but not to the extent that her husband does. Ha, look at me, worrying like this when I need to be concentrating on the rest of this mission.",**__ mused Kei as she kept a watchful eye on the radar and the airspace around her small flight of four._

A few minutes later, Rose was tiding up the notes she'd taken during the TARPS pod run so that the intel wienies back on base wouldn't have to do as much work when preparing the inevitable briefing for an upcoming attack on the two airbases when something outside the cockpit caught her eye. She was about to dismiss it as an anomaly when the voice of her pilot ripped across the cockpit intercom system.

"_Rose, activate the TARPS pod now!! We just stumbled overran unknown rebel AA site out in the middle of nowhere!! There's nothing out here and yet this site is protecting something! I wanna know what it is and I wanna know now!!", _yelled Swordsman as he reefed his Tomcat into a 4G bank at over 600 knots.

"_What anti-aircraft site are you talking about, I don't see shit!!", _Rose snapped back as she flipped the necessary switches to the TARPS pod slung underneath the massive fighter.

Before Swordsman could answer, the RHAW gear went off with its trademark strident tone telling them that some lucky SOB had them targeted on radar. Grunting against the sudden onslaught of g-forces from the bank, Rose heard her pilot calmly calling their wingmen over the radio.

"Lancer One-One-Zero, Photodawg One; hey Night, are you up?", Marcus radioed.

"I can't talk now Photodawg One. Pop-up bandits roaring in from four o'clock low about 30 miles out. Working to get position for a Fox One on the leader; the trailer is hanging back..", replied Nightewolfe as he maneuvered to set up the AMRAAM shot.

"Watch yer ass Lancer. And watch that rebel pilot! We may be facing a sucker play. I just got tagged by an unknown radar system and I'm wondering why the blasted rebels would have a site out here. There's nothing here but sand, sand, and more sand. Something's not right and I don't like it one bit!", griped Snow as he manhandled his Tomcat around while waiting for his backseater to let him know that the TARPS pod was up and running.

Somebody on the ground must've figured out what the circling Tomcat was setting up for because all of a sudden the bright sky turned dark as several flak guns opened up and unleashed a murderous barrage in Snow's direction. Marcus gritted his teeth in anger as he tried to escape the deadly blasts. He evaded some, suckered the others with chaff and flares, and plain outflew the remainder. Unfortunately, as he straightened out from his last jink in preparation for making a photo pass, some lucky sonuvabitchin' rebel gunner lead his Tomcat perfectly and fired. Some of the 23mm rounds from the lucky burst stitched the aft fuselage of the Tomcat.

Marcus heard a cry of pain from his backseater and his insides went cold. Gripping his HOTAS controls tighter, the six' four'' Tomcatter called his RIO on the intercom. He feared the worst when he at first didn't hear any response but when he heard a blistering stream of curses coming back at him (strangely enough, he was able to hear them over the roar of his engines), the Eternal Swordsman almost sighed in relief. Steeling his emotions and returning to the job at hand, Snow called Edge and Kitori.

"Edge, Swordsman. I've been hit but it doesn't seem too bad, however, I got a heretofore unknown target in sight and I'm getting ready to re-start my photo-run. The good news is that I don't think they'll be expecting it. The bad news is, I gotta come back around to the same course and the bastard who popped me knows where I'm going to finish. Can you suppress the ground fire?"

"Swordsman, Edge. Kitori and I can't suppress shit. The minute those ack-ack guns started shooting the shit outta everything, we got bounced by some bad guys. Wolfe, can you suppress the flak for Swordsman?", replied Edge as she avoided another burst of 30mm gunfighter coming from the Flanker that had dove down to try and blot her from the sky.

"Edge, I'm boxed in over here so that's a big negatory. I got a Flogger-J and Flogger-D trying to prove which of our swing-wing designs is superior. So far it's an even match. I'm on the defensive but these guys really suck at knife-fighting.", droned Nightewolfe as he neatly slid his Tomcat around and dropped onto the tail of the MiG-27 that had come screaming past him at full-bore.

Swordsman gritted his teeth in anger. Here he was with the mutha of all TARPS targets and he doesn't have any protection against the radar sites that were painting his aircraft. This was something he did not like, no sir. To survive this battle, he was going to have to so far outside the box, the box was smashed. Inverting his 'cat, Marcus pulled for the sky to try and escape the bursts going off around him. There was only one thing he could do and to do it, he needed altitude.

In the backseat, Rose dealt with the flesh wound caused by a piece of shrapnel that had punctured the cockpit and grazed her collarbone. She was praising the gods who protected fighter pilots by slowing the shrapnel just enough so that all it caused was a shallow, yet bloody, furrow. After being shocked into silence by the pure audacity of the gunner to shoot at her, the Blue Rose of Highbury cut loose with a stream of the vilest invective she could. Unzipping her flightsuit part of the way, Rose retrieved her trusty bandana from its usual spot, balled it up, and stuck it over the cut to soak up the blood before rezipping her flightsuit and snarling as she listened to the news coming over the radio.

Her snarl was cut short when, Swordsman brutally flipped the aircraft inverted and going ballistic. Her eyes widened as she realized what her pilot was doing.

"_An inverted Immelman at this speed, damn you're good!!", _retorted Rose in a harsh tone so unlike her usual timbre.

"_Baby, I got so many moves, I could outfly the Red Baron, Saburo Sakai, Pappy Boyington, Boots Blesse, Robin Olds, And Duke Cunningham with one armed tied behind my back!!", _returned Swordsman cockily as he reached the top of the Immelman.

In the two Hornets and the other Tomcat, eyes rolled and crews snickered at the prideful boasting.

A feral grin appeared on Rose's face before she replied saucily.

"_Alright Loverboy, show me whatcha got!! If you're as good as you say, wanna hook up when we land?"_

Marcus didn't reply, he just double clicked his mic in the universal pilot acknowledgment when one was too busy killing snakes in the cockpit. Unbeknownst to either the pilot or his RIO, one of them had inadvertently keyed the wrong switch and their suggestive conversation poured out over the communications system. Over in her Rhino, Kitori finished dispatching one of those annoying Flankers and had chuckled as the heard the barely restrained lust emanating from the nuggets' voice. Looking over at her wingman, the Virgin Baroness saw Edge shaking her head.

At their home base, the last of the pilots from the separate missions had landed and were piling into the radio room to hear the outcome of the surprise battle. Saki lifted one aristocratic aquiline eyebrow as his aces laughed at the heated words. Just inside the doorway, 'Stiletto' Nelson wrapped an arm around Archer's neck and planted a big fat juicy kiss on his cheek. The poor boy blushed so hard that Saki thought he was gonna pass out. Looking at the shorter pilot, he saw that her eyes were sparkling with relief and excitement. He was about to question her about it when she pumped her fist in the air and yelled.

"_That's my girl!! No more of your hiding behind propriety crap!!_ _Go after what you want with da gusto!!"_

Back at the developing battle, Snow had finished his maneuver and was roaring back down the course he had been taking when his bird got hit. The only difference was, the Tomcat was several thousand feet lower and going several knots faster. Again the flak burst all around them. It got so bad that the lo-vis grey of the Tomcat blended in so well with the grey-black and orange of the exploding shells that to all intents and purposes, it was invisible.

Over in 110, Nightewolfe (having finished proving that the Tomcat was number one in the swing-wing fighter world by splashing the two Floggers) was aghast. There was no sign of the man who was slowly becoming his friend and mentor. Wolfe called his backseater over the ICS and asked him if he could see the other Tomcat.

"Wolfe, I can't see shit!! We're too high and that's just too much gawddammed flak. Don't you fucking dare go down and try and pick him up visually. Radar can't see for crap with all the shrapnel in the air. Are you getting any reply over the radio?", growled 'Big Eyes' Talvert.

"Not a peep, Big Eyes. Not a peep.", replied Wolfe with a despairing tone in his voice.

On the ground, the commander of the gun crew was allowing his men a moment of happiness before they returned their attentions to the other three loyalist dogs in the aircraft above. He and his men had been following orders to keep themselves concealed from the enemy for the foreseeable future until the fat colonel had came wobbling out of the camouflaged radio tent where he'd been monitoring the enemy communications and started issuing orders to uncover the guns and warm up the radar system for the missiles. It had taken the gun commander all of his will power to keep from laughing in the pudgy mans' florid face as his crew readied their weapon.

Lost in thought, the gun commander didn't acknowledge the low roar that was becoming apparent at the edge of his hearing. That lasted until a flash off to his right caught his attention as the ammo stored next to an adjoining gun pit blew sky high as several high-speed rounds connected. Becoming more and more aware of the sound, the gun commander got frightened and jumped to his feet. His celebrating gun crew looked at him oddly as he fearfully gazed up at the skies jerking his head this way and that. They were still looking at their commander when the sound of ripping canvas caught their attention. It was the last thing they ever heard as rounds from the M61 six-barreled Vulcan 20mm cannon mounted on the Tomcat's left side ripped to life and shredded them with rounds meant to destroy enemy fighters. The commander of the now deceased gun crew saw the red mist as his men disintegrated before his eyes and accepted that his fate was sealed. Reaching for his sidearm, he hoisted towards the sky and fired impotently at the approaching beast spitting flame in his direction. There was a brief burst of that now familiar ripping canvas sound….then the gun crew commander knew infinite blackness as at least eight of the heavy bullets found their mark.

It only took one of the eight and the gun crew commander was no more. In his death, the rebel was lucky; for he never saw the ignition of the remaining ammo for his gun. The stockpiled rounds blew sky high. An errant round fired from the destroyed quad mount flak gun streaked into the stomach and neck of the pudgy colonel whose ridiculous orders lead to the destruction before going on to strike the fuel tank of one of just now going into action mobile SAM launchers.

In the ensuing explosion, the secret that the rebels had been trying to hide was ripped wide open. The TARPS pod on the Tomcat kept clicking away.

Several miles away, the brigadier general in command of another, larger flak site, received word of the destruction and revelation and immediately ordered his missile launchers to lock on and fire. He also ordered his gun crews to avenge the deaths of their friends. Those gun crews reacted with alacrity and began filling the sky with new barrages of flak. Only difference was that of all the flak being fired, nothing was smaller than 57mm.

In the sky, Wolfe kept his Tomcat out of range of the deadly barrage and continued calling the missing Tomcat crew. He was soon joined by the pair of Super Hornets and their pilots. With quick glances at their fuel gages the four people knew that it was time to retreat for now. In Hornet Zero-Zero-Seven, Edge felt herself go cold and vowed to return to this particular site and dispense her rage. Ordering her flight of three to make the turn for home, Edge started the long trip back to Area 88.

On Edge's wing, Kitori could see that her aerial sister was hurt and yet, there was nothing she could say to alleviate the pain of losing one of their own. Rocking her wings as a signal for the remaining Tomcat to form up, Kitori formed up and followed her friend. In the backseat of the lone Tomcat, 'Big Eyes' Talvert was grinding his teeth as he pounded his fist on the side of his cockpit in frustration. He and his pilot should have been able to do something but there weren't able to. In their careers, Gavin Talvert and Kendall Smith had seen many close friends die in aerial accidents but this was the first time they'd seen a fellow Tomcat driver lost to enemy fighter. It wasn't a nice feeling.

"Wolfe….", Gavin started.

"Squash it Big Eyes. Swordsman knew the risks as did Rose. They knew them and they accepted them. This is a hard business we're in. Especially since now we're mercenary pilots doing what were trained to do back in our days with Fighting 32. Just like Rose and Snow, we know the risks and we accept them. If you think this is hard on us, just think how hard it is on Edge over in Rhino Zero-Zero-Seven. She's known the Swordsman far longer than either of us. She's accepted the fact that he's gone and she's going to continue fighting. That is what we're going to do. That. _Is._ What. We're. Paid. For! Accept it and move on. That's the only way to live now.", growled Nightewolfe as he savagely yanked his stick back and forth.

Big Eyes snorted. He'd known his nose-gunner long enough to tell when he was fighting to keep from giving in to his tears. Saying nothing, Gavin set up their navigation for home and disarmed their weapons system. They'd bloodied the enemies' nose today at the cost of one of their own. The rebels weren't going to come back out to fight. If they did, Big Eyes knew that Edge would show them no mercy.

**Area 88. 2119 Hours. Radio Room.**

There was a somber air in the Area 88 radio room. Edge and her remaining wingmen had landed about an hour or so earlier and had immediately been whisked away to debrief with Commander Vashtarl. After the flight had landed, several pilots had hung around the radio room hoping and praying to hear word from the Eternal Swordsman but had drifted off by themselves, in pairs, and in groups of three or more when it became obvious that Marcus Snow and his backseater weren't going to return any calls.

The last pilots to leave had been Blaze, Shin, Mickey, Archer, and that new pilot who'd arrived with the missing Harris-White. When it became readily apparent that her friend was about to be written off as lost, Stiletto had damn near lost it. Only the combined strength of Thomas, Kazama, and Simon had kept her from living up to her callsign. After she'd collapsed into a stream of silent tears, Archer had glanced at his friend and flight lead and seen the look in Blaze's eyes. Knowing what was expected of him, Hans nodded before speaking.

"Blaze, I'll take care of Nelson. Call McCoy and tell him I'll need a bottle of bourbon delivered to the lounge. Tell him I'll pay triple the cost if he gets Greg and a few others to clear the room for us.", stated Archer as he hauled the despondent woman to her feet and draped her arm around his neck.

The older pilot nodded and reached for a handset as he saw Archer slip his left arm underneath Nelson's legs and gently lift her up to cradle against his chest. Blaze grinned as he saw the soft look; his young friend cast the woman quietly sobbing into his chest. He'd heard about the incident in the messhall last night from Archer and wondered if the young college graduate and war veteran would end up falling for the newbie before their time here was up. As Archer disappeared through the door, Blaze made the call to McCoy about Archer's request. The old arms dealer said it was no problem and to not worry, everything was on the house. With all that had happened, McCoy had had a run on sales of booze to the pilots. When questioned about it, the old man chuckled.

"It seems that in the short time the four of you have been here, Snow's made a lot of friends. Even Casey was a bit subdued when he came into my warehouse. Don't worry, I'll take care of everything, Blaze.", McCoy had said before hanging up.

Blaze acknowledged an empty line before slipping his hands into the pockets of his flightsuit and ambling out of the radio room. As he was leaving, the new shift was just coming on to take care of the pilots who were due to go out on night patrol.

As Blaze ambled down the hall away from the radio room, Freddy Thibodaux was getting ready to start his shift as one of the night radio men. Relieving his friend Romeo Amanti, Thibodaux (called Tibby by his friends) refreshed his mug of coffee from the percolating pot in the corner. Like most of his oncoming shiftmates, Fred had heard about the loss of the Eternal Swordsman and was down in the dumps. He remembered the night he'd met the tall pilot as if it was yesterday. He'd finished his shift in the tower around 8AM and was extremely tired. On his way to the mess hall, he got buttonholed by the one of the night patrol pilots who apparently had lost his wingman while they were patrolling due to Freddy not paying attention due to another developing situation. Before the discussion could get out of hand, Snow had shown up and looked at the other pilot with something akin to anger in his eyes and told him that things happened, suck it up and deal with it.

Now seated in his chair and with his headphones over his ears, Freddy settled in for a long depressing shift. Forty minutes into his shift, Freddy was starting to drift off when radar gave him a call.

"Hey Tower, are you guys in contact with any of our birds outta the north? We keep getting an intermittent blip here that pops up just about every time the system sweeps to the north. We also keep getting a broken radio message but we can't clear it up.", came the call.

Tibby asked any of his shift mates if they were in voice contact with anyone to the North. No one was and they said so and passed it on to radar.

"Look, radio I don't wanna scramble a patrol just in case we've misidentified somebody. Nor do I want to shoot down one of our own if they have radio problems. Could you do me a favor and take it if they call back? If so, hit them up on 121.7. Thanks.", replied the tech in response.

"Alright, radar we'll take care of it. Attention whoever is calling Double Echo on one-two-one point seven, identify yourself or prepare to be fired upon.", Freddy called as he switched to the requested channel while hanging up the handset.

"……bout……damn wingmen…..we'll keelhaul those assholes…..", came the broken reply.

Freddy lifted an eyebrow in confusion. Whoever was calling was breaking up real bad. Increasing the power to his transmitter he repeated the call. At first the response was filled with so much static, it wasn't clear. Boosting the power again and focusing it in the direction given by the radar room, Freddy tried again. Again the voice came in broken. He fiddled with the knobs on his console for a bit, repeated his call….and all of a sudden, the voice was clear as a bell.

"_DAMMIT DOUBLE ECHO!! WILL YOU ANSWER THE FUCKING RADIO!! THIS IS SWORDSMAN IN TOMCAT ONE-ONE-EIGHT!! WE'RE ABOUT TEN MILES OUT AND ON FINAL APPROACH!! I'M FLYIN ON A WING AND A DAMN PRAYER HERE BUT I STILL GOT TWO TURNIN AND TWO BURNIN' BUT THE FLAK WAS SO THICK WE COULD WALK ON IT!! FIRST THING I'M GONNA DO WHEN I LAND THIS TURKEY IS KNOCK THE SHIT OUTTA MY WINGMEN FOR LEAVING US OUT THERE!!", _came the familiar baritone over the radio with a dangerous edge to it.

"_SWORDSMAN, SHUT THE HELL UP AND JUST FLY THE DAMNED PLANE!! I'M BLEEDIN' LIKE A STUCK PIG HERE BECAUSE OF YOUR DAMMED MANEUVERING!!", _retorted a highly irate feminine voice.

Freddy Thibodaux was floored. Recognizing the voices of the missing crew, jumped outta of his chair and gave a enthusiastic yell. His shift mates looked at him as if he was crazy. Instead of explaining his actions, Tibby just flipped the switch that activated the speakers before answering the radio call.

"Tomcat One-One-Eight, this is Double Echo; Swordsman, Rose you won't believe how happy I am to hear your voices. You're cleared to land on Runway Three-One Left. Welcome Home you two!", replied the shaking radioman as he collapsed in to his chair.

"About damn time somebody answered. We've been calling for the last hour but none of youse sonsabitches would reply. Tell those photo Intel geeks we got the pictures they wanted. And tell those bastards that next time they get to make that run. Also wake up the med crews, my RIO took some shrapnel and is bitching like you wouldn't believe. Personally I think it's just a scratch but you know how some women are. Tibby, that you on the blower?"

"Can it Hothead! I'm kicking your ass when we land!", roared Rose.

"Baby you can kick my ass anytime! If you think you can handle it!"

Fred Thibodaux sighed before having one of the others in the tower make the requested calls. Next he dispatched one of the messengers to retrieve the commander and bring him to the tower. He then dispatched another grinning messenger to the lounge before activating the base public address system and calling for the fire crews.

**Area 88. 2158 Hours. Pilot's Lounge.**

Blaze Thomas sat on one of the couches in the darkened pilot's lounge. His wife lay with her head in his lap and legs stretched towards the armrest. Sitting hunched over across from them were Gavin Talvert and Kendall Smith. Over by the window looking out on to the flight line silently stood Mickey. On the love seat catty-cornered to the couch were Commander Vashtarl and his betrothed Kitori Palvanoff. At the nearby table rested Shin and Ryouko Kazama along with Kim Aba and situated in the lone recliner was Archer Grimm. In his arms, Stiletto Nelson slept soundly although every so often those gathered could hear her sniffle.

Blaze had already made the dreaded call to Jack Bartlett who promised to pass it on to Admiral Andresson when the time came. The young major wasn't looking forward to the call he knew he could expect from the admiral after he found out. Looking up when he heard Mickey shift position, Blaze saw that the other Tomcat driver was now leaning against the window staring intently at what was transpiring. Before the Osean major could ask, the p.a. System clicked on and blared.

"_Now hear this, now hear this! This is the tower. Scramble the fire fighters and emergency crew! We've got a wounded bird comin' in!! I repeat, scramble the fire engines and emergency crews; Swordsman, Rose, and Tomcat One-One-Eight are comin' home. One-one-eight is damaged but, as he says, he's still got two turnin' and two burnin'!! Tower out!!"_

As the PA system clicked off, everyone presently in the room looked at each other with confused looks on their faces. That lasted until Saki's aide Leo burst into the room, flipped on the light switch, looked around at those gathered, and told them that the announcement wasn't a joke.

"That's not a lie, Swordsman and Rose are five miles out on final approach.", Leo stated unequivocally as he dropped his hands to his knees and tried to regain his breath.

Out in the hallway, there was the thunder of hundreds of flight boot clad feet pounding out to the runway. One of the runners stopped for a second with a big grin on his bearded face and asked the slackers what they were doing. Their buddy was coming home.

Tomcat One-One-Eight. On final Approach

Marcus 'Swordsman' Snow and his RIO Rosemarie 'Blue Rose' Harris-White grimaced as their battered Tomcat jostled through the air as they prepared for landing. Snow had already lowered his landing gear and was slowly reducing power as he descended through the clouds to touchdown on the ribbon of asphalt in the desert. In the backseat, Rose was shutting down all the unnecessary systems and going through her landing checklist. Underneath her seat, she could feel the jostle as the TARPS pod jounced in the shackles holding it to the Big Cat. Like Snow, she could hear the engines as they strained to remain at their present power setting.

It had been a close thing. A fifty-seven millimeter shell had burst about two feet from their number two engine intake and shrapnel had been sucked down towards the delicate engines within. Thinking quickly, Snow had pulled his number two throttle to the fuel cutoff and shut that engine down to keep it from ripping itself apart. He beat the shrapnel by about three tenths of a millisecond.

Now flying on one engine, Snow and Rose had gone low and evaded to the mountains carrying them further and further from Area 88. With a gimlet eye on his fuel gage, Snow had made a decision and flown towards the gulf. Once out over the gulf and while preparing to eject, Snow got a call from an old roomie from his 'Grey Dukes' days who was presently commanding the OFS _Albatross._

His old roommate had gotten a back channel message from their old squadron commander that Snow may be on special assignment in his area of operations. Thinking quickly, Snow had made a barrier landing aboard the _Kestrel_ class carrier and had his bird hustled below so the air group maintenance guys could do a hurried repair job and get Snow and his backseater relaunched without asking any questions. Snow had a private word with the _Albatross'_ CAG and promised to contribute a cool 100g's to the Air Group's after cruise blowout. He also promised each of the maintenance chiefs who worked on his plane fifty thousand apiece to get the work down as quickly as possible.

The work was done in three hours.

After being refueled and launched for the return back to Area 88, Snow and Rose had flown a meandering course out over the gulf at the same altitudes the regular Osean and American Tomcats had flown so that they wouldn't be recognized for what they were, I.e. mercenaries for Area 88. When the appointed ending time for their patrol had ended, Snow had shut down all of his communications and dove his bird to an altitude that was below the rebel radar coverage. It was as they'd gone 'feet dry' after crossing the coastline that Rose has asked Snow if he'd ever had another callsign. He'd admitted that he was indeed the 'Hothead' she remembered from her younger days and proceeded to tell her that he'd recognized her the minute she'd climbed into his cockpit from the dirt road after her ejection.

Needless to say, the newly reunited pair had a lot to catch up on.

Now just inches away from touchdown on the wonderful concrete of home, Snow quirked an eyebrow as he thought back to the long conversation they'd had as they flew back. They'd had a lot of problems to work out at first but everything got straightened up and they were caught up on the goings on in their present lives. Shaking his head and bringing his attention back to the situation at hand; Snow eased his damaged bird down the last few feet to the runway and felt the main oleos on his main gear compress as they touched the ground. Slowly pulling back his throttles as he gently lowered his nose gear onto the ground, Marcus spared a quick look at his instruments before returning his attention to the runway in front of him..

In the backseat, Rose gazed out the canopy glass and saw the pilots gathered around Swordsman's hardstand where a ground crewman with a pair of lighted wands awaited his arrival. Feeling the gently jolt as her long lost but never forgotten lover greased the nose gear onto the pavement, Rose grinned. She had a lot planned for this reunion.

Over at the hardstand, Saki Vashtarl pushed his way through the crowd with Blaze and the others right behind him. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw that the Tomcat had landed safely and was now turning off the runway for the active taxiway where a jeep with flashing yellow lights on its roof waited to lead the way into his hardstand. With the fire engines racing behind the slowly moving D model Tomcat as it returned to its roost, the tableau appeared extremely surreal. Behind him, Saki could feel that all of his pilots were holding their breath. When the Tomcat made the final turn and headed for the hardstand and waiting crowd, the prince was sure that everybody behind him had the same thought.

"_**Hold together just a few seconds more you twin-engined, twin-tailed bitch!! You're almost home!!"**_

As the wounded Tomcat advanced the last fifty feet into its hardstand, an unknown signal passed between the drivers of the two fire trucks and suddenly (to the consternation of the gathered pilots) water cannons mounted on the back of the huge trucks threw an arcing spray of fresh water over the plane and gave it a bath as the lights from the hanger and hardstands glinted in the millions of mini-prism teardrops. In the back of the crowd, somebody whistled as everyone caught the first glimpse of the damage Snow and Rose had sustained (he was beaten bloody for ruining a moment as tense as this). Finally the wounded F-14 came to a gentle bobbing stop and the engines wound down. A pair of alert ground crewmen ran up to the plane as the canopy unlatched and majestically rose into the night sky and slapped a pair of boarding ladders against the side. Many in the crowd winced as they heard the clang of metal meeting metal.

"_Gawddammit you assholes, I didn't just fly this shot to shit bird half way across Asran for you idiots to damage it even further! Be dammed careful!!",_ roared a familiar voice tight with weariness.

The crowd looked at each other and wondered what was gonna happen. That held until a sweet feminine voice floated up from the backseat and calmed the raging beast in the front.

"_**Hothead, Ya Big Stud! Take Me to Bed or Lose Me Forever!"**_

Down in the crowd at the foot of the ladder, Emily 'Stiletto' Nelson gazed up at her friend with eyes brimming full of unshed tears. Seeing the look of longing on both faces still marked by the outline of their oxygen masks, Stiletto turned to Commander Vashtarl and said:

"Commander, I really don't think that now would be a good time for their mission debrief."

Vashtarl glanced at the Nelson (who was being held tightly by-wonder of wonders-Archer Grimm) then back up at the cockpit of the damaged Tomcat where the flight crew were involved in an increasingly passionate kiss and agreed.

"Stiletto, you're right. I don't think that now is a good time either. Swordsman, Rose, we'll debrief you tomorrow morning at 0800 hours.", replied Saki as he started to turn around and head back to the building, only to get slapped in the head by his betrothed.

Turning around, the Heir Quaternary to the Asranian Throne saw the frightening glares being cast his way by the gathered women and quickly changed his mind.

"Make that 1300 hours."

He was ignored by the kissing couple and started to head for the building only to stop when he heard Snow reply to Rose's demand.

"Show me the way home, Honey!!"

_And that my fair reader, brings Chapter Four of the engrossing story 'Area 88: The Return of the Razgriz' to an 'interesting' end. I do hope y'all enjoy reading this as much as I enjoy writing it. The reviews I receive perk up my will to write. I know I take a long time to update my stories but it's because I want to bring the best work I can to my readers. BTW, did y'all like the homage to the movie Top Gun?_

In the next chapter, tentatively titled 'Swing Wing Jubilee', things are gonna happen that will set up chapter 6 (tentatively called 'Boondoggle'). The beginning of the chapter will, predictably, contain the only hints of a light citrus scent that will be in this story (I.e. this story ain't about the love lives of the pilots; it's about an aerial grinder of a battlefield that takes the unwary and grinds them into jet fuel-seasoned ground beef). It's brutal, it's bloody, and it's the story of the Mercenary Air Force of Asran and their base:

AREA 88.

So until next time, keep reading, writing, and reviewing. This gritty story will be back.

Knightewolfe

Wolfe's Den

8/08


	5. Swing Wing Jubilee

_And the story continues_.

_**Disclaimer: TV Asashi owns Area 88 while Ace Combat 5 is owned by Namco. **_

_**Area 88**_

_**Return of the Razgriz**_

_**Chapter 5:**_

_**Swing Wing Jubilee**_

**0935 Hours. Quarters of Marcus Snow.**

In the morning light the shapes of two figures could be seen entangled in wrinkled sheets. The fading redolence of passionate arousal wafted around the small room on weak currents of wind. The figure on the bottom of the two-person dog-pile shifted as it nuzzled closer to the heat coming from its partner. Reunited lovers dropped back into to dreamland with happy sighs of fulfillment.

The Blue Rose of Highbury had found a love long lost but never forgotten.

**1045 Hours. Quarters of Marcus Snow.**

Marcus 'Swordsman' Snow, thirty-five years of age; former Osean Maritime Air Defense Force fighter pilot and air group commander, sat at the desk in his no frills quarters and gazed fondly at the woman still asleep in his bed. His dark eyes followed the familiar lines of her milk chocolate skin as she rolled over; her body unconsciously seeking the fading warmth that had been there a short time before. Stifling a chuckle, Marcus watched as the Legendary Blue Rose of Highbury realized that she was alone in the bed where until an hour before there had been the comforting warmth of another warm-blooded animal.

Her hazel eyes slowly opened and glanced at her surroundings. Recognizing that she wasn't in her own assigned room, the eyes jolted open before her mind kicked in and reminded her of the events of the previous night. Settling her eyes on the flight suited figure sitting in the uncomfortable straight back metal chair, her breathing smoothed out. Marcus lifted an eyebrow as he saw the heaving of her naked chest under the thin sheets slow to a normal pace. Leaning back in his seat, Snow watched as the woman sat up and stretched, allowing the sheets to drop away from her chest and the still perky breasts that showed no signs of sagging.

"Do you like what you see?", came her accented velvety voice as she cast a coy smile in his direction with hooded eyes.

"Yes, I do. Been a long time since I last witnessed such a magnificent sight.", came his barely calm reply.

"Climb back under these sheets and we'll see about stimulating your memory some more."

"I wish I could and I really, really, want to but we've been on a safety stand down for more than enough time to get fully recognizant with these acrobatic 'procedures'."

"I see, well if you're not going to let me get more proficient at these 'procedures', then I need you to find me a towel and a clean flightsuit so I can take a shower. Besides, I believe you'd rather not have your barracks mates see the real me.", stated Rose as she placed her bare feet on the cold polished concrete and wrapped her nude form in the thick blanket lying wadded up on the floor.

Snow just chuckled as rose from his seat and tossed the overnight bag (delivered by a blushing Grimm accompanied by a smirking Nelson) onto the bed before striding to his door and checking the hallway for extraneous eyes. Seeing none, Snow went over to his closet and opened the door. Reaching in and pulling out his robe, Snow mentioned that the baroness had stopped by earlier and dropped one of her own towels into the bag. Rose told Marcus that she'd have to thank the baroness later and Snow mentioned that Kitori would, more than likely, buttonhole her after their long-delayed debrief.

Turning back from his door, Snow looked at Rose as she tightened the belt on the loaned robe and smothered a lust-tinted growled laugh as the material draped over her slender form like a tent. The only thing that kept the edges from dragging around on the ground was Rose's height: Rosemarie Harris-White was the same height as Baroness Kitori Palvanoff. Ignoring the frown on Rose's face, Marcus led her out into the hall and towards the communal showers situated in every barracks building. The hallway, usually echoing with the clop-clop of flight boots as pilots entered and exited the building, was almost quiet. The only sounds were the firm steps of Snow in his flight boots and the softer flip-flop of Rose in her shower shoes.

Opening the door to the-surprisingly clean-bathroom area, Snow pointed Rose in the direction of the showers. As she stepped past him with her toiletries in her arm, Rose brushed against him and drew a gasp of desire out of him. Chuckling at her intended's sudden breathing trouble, Rose entered the shower area and found a stall midway down the line. Opening the half-door, the six foot beauty with mocha-colored skin slipped out of her borrowed robe and turned on the needle-like spray of water. When it reached the temperature she desired, Rose stepped under the spray and let the warm water loosen up her tightened muscles. Lost in her actions, Rose started when she suddenly felt a pair of large calloused hands take the soap out of her grasp and proceeded to run over her body and work up a large amount of lather. Gazing over her shoulder, the former Tornado pilot saw that her paramour had stepped into the shower-flightsuit and all-and relieved her of her lathering duties. Within seconds of his entering the stall, Rose had had to playfully slap away wandering fingers. This little finger battle lasted until one of his digits slipped past her defenses and into her center.

Rose swooned and nearly lost her balance as the finger deftly stroked her to a thundering climax. Lifting her head up and glaring at the self-satisfied grin on Snow's face, Rose somehow gathered the strength to push him out of the stall with a light admonishment.

"If you do that again, I won't be able to finish my shower. And if I don't get to finish my shower, you don't get a repeat of last nights actions. Now kindly step out so I can finish.", snapped Rose with a dour look on her face.

"Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I'll let you finish. If you need me, I'll be up front guarding your innocence.", replied Snow as he backed away.

Rose grinned to herself as she heard the hurried footsteps of her loved one rapidly retreating to the other side of the room. Before she could enjoy the remainder of her shower, Marcus' voice echoed off the tiles.

"So that's why they call you 'The Blue Rose of Highbury'. I've never noticed it.", came the liltingly teasing baritone voice she so loved.

Rose froze as the water fell on to her face. His words reverberated through her mind and snapped her out of her stupor. Gasping to herself, the bathing woman glanced down at the small tattoo inscribed on the inside of her thigh near the entrance to her interior. Moaning in embarrassment, the thirty-three year old fighter pilot instantly regretted getting the stupid thing. She'd designed it one night when she was a teenager and had gone out with some friends to a local pub. One thing led to another and Rose ended up with a dare she knew she shouldn't have taken. Several nights later, Rose lost her virginity and gained a tattoo.

A tattoo of Highbury Stadium encircling a blue rose.

The tattoo artist who she gave her virginity to in exchange for the work, still called it his best work ever. Of course her friends begged to know the story. When they found out that Rose had snuck into the stadium one night and, at mid-field no less, slept with the attractive artist. They immediately tagged her with the new nickname.

Grumbling to herself and shutting off the water, Rose stepped out of the stall dried off before rewrapping her now towel-covered form in her borrowed robe. Standing at the door, Rose saw that her lover had the brains to look suitably apologetic. Deciding to make the best of the situation, Rose stepped up to the six four pilot whispered something in his ear. Mentally rejoicing as she heard his hasty intake of breath, Rose walked past him and exited the shower area as she made her way back to his room where a fresh set of underwear and a fresh flightsuit awaited her.

Staring at the departing form of his old flame, Marcus stiffened as he remembered her words as she passed. Feeling a familiar tightness in his flightsuit, the Osean pilot ran a finger around his collar and wondered how in the hell could that woman throw a swivel in her hips as she sensuously slunk away. Tossing his thoughts up to fate, Marcus could only say one thing.

"Oh boy."

_**1217 Hours. Area 88 Messhall. **_

Blaze Thomas sat at the table eating lunch with his wife draped over his back. The pair had gone on an early morning combat air patrol (CAP) shortly after they'd woken up. On the way out to the flight line, Blaze had tried to check on Swordsman but had been discouraged when the baritone-voiced pilot had yelled through his door for Blaze to go away and leave him alone. Shrugging his shoulders, Blaze had done so only to run into Edge's disapproving look. Now back from the mission and relaxing, Blaze asked his companions if they'd seen the wayward pilot at all this morning.

I can't say that I have, Blaze. I haven't seen hide nor hair of either Swordsman or Rose since last night when Saki ordered everyone out of that particular barracks.", replied Shin Kazama as he flipped through an old copy of 'Sports Illustrated' magazine.

At the end of the table, Mickey was about to make a comment when he was hit in the back of the head by a rolled up newspaper wielded by Kitori Palvanoff. Turning around and glaring at the baroness, the Tomcat driver started to say something.

"_Don't. Say. Another. Word, Mickey_. Your lewd comments will not be appreciated at this time.", growled Kitori.

"Aww come on, Kitori. I'm not like that!", protested Mickey.

"Mickey, I've known you for several years so I know you're lying.", replied Kim Aba as he took another drink from his mug of coffee.

The group laughed as Mickey grumbled good-naturedly about the teenaged pilot turning on his friend just to stay on Kitori's good side.

_**1230 Hours. Flightline. **_

Gustav placed his hands on his hips as he surveyed the battered F-14D. Just looking at it with his experienced eyes told the expert mechanic that it was going to be awhile before this particular bird flew the skies again. Even then, it might not be as good as it used to be. Shaking his head, Gustav turned towards the McCoy's warehouse. On his way there, he ran into one of the other pilots. The master mechanic told the pilot that it would be a few hours before he and his team were able to start on repairs to the pilots' plane, one of the Corsair II's that had survived the attack led by Blaze Thomas and Shin Kazama. Downhearted, the pilot nodded his head and headed towards the lounge. If he couldn't fly, he could always listen to the others.

Gustav watched the eager young man go and shook his head again. Continuing on his way, he entered the cool dimness of the old mans one stop mercenary air force shop.

"McCoy! Hey McCoy where are you ya old bastard? I need to talk to you about ordering the parts for Swordsman's Tomcat. And it's a long list.", called Gustav as he made his way to the counter and leaned against it.

"Oh really, how long is it?", replied the old arms dealer as he came out from his 'office'.

"It's long enough to cost him an arm and a leg. Swordsman would be better off ordering a new Tomcat. That bird of his is so damaged, it's gonna take a lot of time just to get it back to spec. Not to mention to his personal specifications.", grumbled the mechanic.

"I see. Well, let's get started. First off tell me what parts you need me to order. That way I can go ahead and give you the parts I already have so the work can start."

Gustav nodded and proceeded to tell the dealer what he needed. It was going to be a long day.

_**1300 Hours. Briefing Room. **_

Now fully dressed in a clean flightsuit and visibly relaxed, Rose Harris-White accepted the mug of coffee from Marcus and sat down in one of the folding chairs in the briefing room. Projected on the screen at the front of the room was the first of the developed photos from the photo run she and Snow had undertaken. Getting comfortable in her seat and drinking her coffee, Rose prepared for the mission debriefing to start. Commander Vashtarl's aide Leo conducted the debrief.

Leo asked about the first picture while he and a couple of the Intel geeks took notes. Marcus and Rose answered the questions asked of them as well as gave their opinions on some of the pictures. Snow also mentioned his suspicions about why they weren't challenged during their recon run even though they were over enemy territory and pretty damn blatant about what they were doing.

"Leo, they couldn't be that dumb as to just let us sit there and basically spy on them while they just sat there fat, dumb, and happy! If the rebels had tried that shit over here, we would've blasted them even before they could get into range. The only thing I could think of for their lack of a reaction is either they were hoping we would take the pictures and return home without spotting anything of any interest, or somebody ordered them to stand down and just go about their everyday normal business so that they could observe us and our tactics while we observed what amounted to nothing in the long run.", stated Snow two hours into the debrief.

"Yeah, it was too quiet over the location. It was only when we spotted the AA site in the desert apparently guarding nothing when everything went apeshit. If it wasn't for both of us spotting that site, we wouldn't know what they were hiding. However, since we blew the camp to scrap or tried to, it must've revealed something. I just wanna know the location of those 57 mike-mikes that came up and shot our engine to pieces.", sniffed Rose as she placed her cup of coffee on the table in front of her chair.

Leo gazed at the crew in front of him and noticed that they complemented each other as a crew and as a couple. When one was placing his/her cup on the table, the other was picking theirs up. Leo also noticed that where Marcus was more aggressive in his posture, Rose was passive, leaning back in her seat and observing her partner's reactions. Sighing to himself, Leo decided that it was time to take a break.

"Okay you two; let's take a break for right now. We've been at it for several hours now.", commented Leo as he rose from his seat after placing his notepad on the table.

Rose and Marcus nodded in agreement with the suggestion and rose from their seats as well. Giving her prodigal lover a quick peck on the cheek, Rose hurried off to the bathroom to alleviate the building pressure on her bladder while Marcus strolled over to the window and stared out at the flightline where a quartet of Tomcats were prepping for a sortie assigned by Commander Vashtarl. Recognizing the artwork on the closest Tomcat as belonging to Knightewolfe Smith, the thirty-five year old Osean Naval Aviator grinned and wished he could be flying with them on their mission.

**_Same Time. Freelancer 110 on Flightline._ **

If Knightewolfe Smith knew what Swordsman was thinking, the six foot three inch tall black aviator would've gladly given the older pilot a counteroffer to fly the sortie for him. Usually partnered with his buddy Warlock over in Tomcat 205, Wolfe had just found out that he was being partnered with a nugget Tomcat crew on what promised to be an eye-opening patrol over one of the more dangerous of operations areas.

Needless to say, Knightewolfe was not happy.

_"Who the fuck came up with this screwball of a mission; and why the hell am I being given a newbie wingman? Dammit Boss Saki, what gives?", _roared the pilot as he stood by his bird with his hands on his hips.

"Look, Wolfe, if I could partner you with any of the other veterans, I would. However, with Swordsman's bird down and Mickey just back from a mission with Kazama, we're stuck with just four operational Tomcats: your 'Black Panther', Warlocks' 'Bald Eagle', Rockbird's 'Classy Chassis', and the unnamed bird of the nuggets. And with 'Classy Chassis' in need of some maintenance work, Rockbird needs a wingman who'll help him return safely.", growled Saki as he drew heavily on his burning cigarette.

Knightewolfe cursed and spit on the ground as he let the commander's words filter through his mind. He was about to ask Saki why he wasn't assigned to fly with Rockbird when an exasperated Saki threw down his cigarette in frustration and told him the other reason why he was getting his turn on the shit detail.

"Warlock's already flown with the nugget once and flat out refused to fly with him again. He told me that if he was stuck with the nuggets on his wing, he'd shoot them down himself."

"Oh gee Saki, you don't think I'd do the same!"

"Have you flown with them?"

"What?"

"Have you flown with them before?"

"What kind of question is that, Saki?", snapped Wolfe.

"Answer the dammed question: _Have. You. Flown. With. Them. Before_?", returned the base commander.

"You already know the answer to that. No I haven't flown with the nuggets yet and if I could have it my way, I wouldn't fly with them on my wing.", growled Knightewolfe as he faced Saki.

"Well then guess what, you're flying with them on your wing today and _THAT IS FINAL!_. If ya don't like it well tough shit then, mercenary! Now get in your plane and _FLY THE DAMMED MISSION_!", Saki yelled at Wolfe before whirling away to forestall anymore complaints.

Knightewolfe glared at the rapidly retreating back of the prince and slung his helmet to the ground. Sitting in his usual position in the backseat, 'Big Eyes' Talvert threw his hands up into the air and grumbled about their 'rotten luck'. Ignoring his RIO for a moment, Knightewolfe stalked to where his new wingman was giving his overhauled B-model Tomcat a thorough preflight inspection. Dropping a heavy hand on the other man's shoulder, Knightewolfe spun him around and gave him a short and to the point 'pep talk'.

"I don't care what you and your RIO were called in the fleet; out here it's a different story. You gotta prove yourself to earn your callsign! This ain't no peace time exercise, this is the real deal. We're fighting for our lives out here and it's not just the enemy we're fighting. We're also fighting the climate, the supply line, and our own pasts! I don't wanna be your buddy and I ain't gonna be your friend. Out here it's almost every man and woman for himself. Since you and your backseater are newbies here, you can kinda guess who's gonna get the short end of the stick. Once we're up in the sky, you follow my orders exactly. If I order you to RTB, then I want you to return to base and I don't give a damn if you're in hot pursuit of a bandit. Here at Area 88, even though we're mercenaries only flying and fighting for a paycheck, we still have a semblance of discipline. If you fail to accept that discipline, there won't _be _a court-martial if you get my drift. Do you understand? Good, now finish your pre-flight and shag ass into your cockpit. We got a mission to fly. One last thing, we fly 'loose deuce', not 'welded wing'. Seeing that you're a former Tailhooker, I take it you at least know the basics of 'Loose Deuce' and 'Combat Spread' right? Good. Let's go, nugget.", stated Knightewolfe as he turned on his heel and headed back to his fighter.

Knightewolfe was so incensed by his new-albeit hopefully temporary-wingman, that he didn't see the look of pure poison on the new guys' face. Even if he had, it wouldn't have mattered to Wolfe. He would've given the asshole five seconds to change his expression or he would change it himself with his fists.

_**Airborne over the desert; three hours later. **_

The quartet of Tomcats were halfway to the target they'd been assigned and 'Big Eyes' Talvert had been dealing with Wolfe's grumbling about his wingman the entire flight. Frankly, it was starting to get on his nerves. If Wolfe wasn't bitching about the nuggets flight discipline, he was complaining about the temperature in his cockpit or some other inconsequential thing. For his part, Talvert had dutifully performed his RIO duties and let his pilot talk. He'd kept up an ongoing conversation with 'Pungent' Casey over in the two-oh-five bird as well as with Rockbird's RIO over in 'Classy Chassis'. Checking his radar picture, Talvert spotted what looked to be a gaggle of bogies a couple of hundred miles ahead.

"Wolfe, I got a radar contact. Course 085, range two double oh. Can't tell what they are since I'm in search mode on the AWG nine. But I'm guessing there's a passel of nogoodniks ahead lookin' for a scrap."

"I copy that Big Eye. They're just coming up on my screen here now. I don't wanna spook 'em by lighting them up so I'm gonna cheat it around to the west a bit so we can get a better look. Pass it on to Warlock and Rockbird. Let them know I want them to break high and left to loiter for a bit until we get a positive ID. Set the nuggets up for a high-speed pass on the contact. If they're bad guys I wanna see if they'll bite on the fake. If they do, lock on with a Sparrow and we'll hit 'em from long distance. Tell the nuggets to be damn careful. If this is a sucker move on the enemies part, have the nuggets hall ass then come around to re-engage. And express to them that we're covering for Warlock and Rockbird. I don't want them getting a WHUTA and pulling a 'John Wayne' on us."

"Copy that Wolfe. I'm passing on your instructions."

Up in the front cockpit, Knightewolfe nodded to himself and started psyching himself up for the coming dogfight. Casting a sidelong glance out the front corner of his cockpit windscreen, he saw the sleek arrowhead of his wingman speeding ahead from his position a mile ahead and a thousand feet above Wolfe's plane. So far, the nuggets had been following his directions to the letter. Wolfe grudgingly gave them a bit of a mental compliment, though he would deny it till hell froze over if his buddies called him on it. Switching his weapons selector switch to the 'AiM-7 detent, Knightewolfe Smith waited for the festivities to begin.

While Wolfe, Warlock, Rockbird, and the nuggets were getting their flights sorted, Swordsman was weathering a quiet verbal blast from Admiral Andresen over his cavalier display of bravado and his lack of common sense over his latest misadventures in the desert.

"Yessir, yessir! I won't do such a damn fool thing again sir. Yes sir. No sir. I agree sir. Yes admiral. I copy that loud and clear admiral. Aye aye admiral. Have a good day sir.", parroted Marcus as he finished the long distance call set up by McCoy-who hit him up for three thousand bucks-and approved by Saki.

Behind him, Swordsman could feel the grins directed his way from Blaze and the rest of his friends as well as from Rose and Nelson. Hanging up the handset, Snow turned to face his own personal peanut gallery and prepared to pass on what the admiral had said. Of course, the admiral wouldn't be the admiral if he didn't chew a strip of hide from everyone on that sortie and tell his wayward air group commander to pass his words on to the interested parties. Facing his friends,, Marcus saw the look on Blaze's face and sighed.

_**"At least at the end of his 'talk', Admiral Andressen did tell me that I did a good job. But I guess I'll keep that to myself for now; my friends would not believe it!"**__, thought Snow as he sighed again. _

Surprisingly, Grimm was the first to speak.

"So how did it go Swordsman? Was the admiral happy to hear from you after your 'eventful' mission yesterday?"

One glance at Archer's oh so innocent face and Marcus knew he'd been set up by the Blaze the Annoyingly Eternal Prankster. Deciding to just go ahead and face the slings and arrows of a fate so fickle, Marcus just shrugged his shoulders in acceptance.

"Archer, you know the answer to that question as well as I do. Don't be a wiseass! At least I wasn't the only one the admiral threatened with a keelhauling. He blasted everyone on the mission who-in his words-'allowed his missing former wing commander to pull such a stupid ass stunt'. He blasted the flight lead and her wingman for allowing it, he slammed my wingman (who is on another mission, the lucky bastard) for not sticking to my wing throughout the most violent of maneuvers. And to top it off he chastised my RIO for not knocking some since into my head and talking me out of doing what I did. Does that cover everything in a nutshell?", asked Marcus as he slipped his sunglasses on.

The reactions around the room were varied to say the least. The Osean contingent cracked up laughing, Saki grinned and nodded, McCoy rubbed his chin with a financially speculative gleam in his eyes as he tried to figure out how to make some money off of this. Kitori shrugged her shoulders and went back to her cup of coffee; Emily turned a florid shade of angry red, while Rose fumed.

_** "As if that hardheaded hotshot would listen to me in the midst of battle, I was just his damn backseater and there aren't any flight controls in the backseat of a Tomcat! Shit, I'm already in the fucking hole cash-wise here and trying to make some money to afford the high cost of living here and now I got some bloody Osean four star x-amount of miles away 'chastising' me for not reigning in his hotheaded former air group commander! Both of them are sodding arseholes in my book. I can't wait till I get my own plane, then I could drop dumbass in my backseat and show him what real low-level flying is about!"**, mentally ranted Rose while ruthlessly suppressing the fact that one of the arseholes in question did have a nice arse._

A few steps over from where Rose was fuming, Edge noticed the angry look that was starting to sprout across the attractive face of Snow's lost paramour and correctly guessed that if she didn't step in, Rose was going to erupt in a rage. Stepping over to the taller woman, Edge put her hand on Rose's shoulder and called out to McCoy.

"Hey McCoy, you old bastard. Gimme a bottle of your best bourbon and five clean glasses, Rose, Stiletto, Kitori, and I gotta talk. Blaze, see if you can round up Kazama Ryouko and have her join us. After that, go check on my Rhino. Take Archer and Snow with you. Archer's Red Stag probably needs some work and Snow can see how far Gustav's got on his Tomcat.", Edge called while using her hand to turn Rose towards the door.

"But Edge, I thought ….", started Blaze before Kei sharply cut him off.

"_That's right you thought_! Now get busy and go do something. I got other things to deal with right now. Later.".

All Blaze could do was stare, jaw agape as his wife sauntered out the door with a familiar look on her face and the other three females in tow. Once the quartet was out of sight, Blaze shook his head in confusion.

"Dammit, what in the hell did I do to piss her off _**This**_ time?", wondered Blaze in his confusion.

Swordsman and the remaining men just looked at the bewildered pilot.

_**Airborne in Freelancer 110**_

Knightewolfe Smith grunted as he yanked his control stick back into his stomach while stomping on his right rudder pedal to avoid the gunfire spitting from one of the enemy Fishbeds that his flight ad discovered. The bastards were good, too good to

be the usual run of the mill rebel 'hit-n-git' pilots they usually ran in to. These pilots knew how to mix it up and were extremely aggressive. They used the abilities of their fighters to their best advantage.

After launching his Sparrow at the gaggle of bandits, Knightewolfe had gritted his teeth as he waited for the semi-active radar homing missile to get its final target acquisition and shriek towards his chosen target. Of course, once the gaggle had detected the signal of somebody's incoming death, they scattered and went on the offensive. Missiles and cannon shells dotted the one pristine sky as Knightewolfe and his wingman engaged t rebels.

Knowing the abilities of the MiG-21, Knight knew that he had to make the battle an energy fight-which his Tomcat excelled at-instead of the angles fight that was the Fishbed's aerial forte. Unfortunately, Knightewolfe's wingman went charging in like the Light Brigade.

"Hey Wolfe, our wingie's gone wild hare on us!", growled Big Eyes Talvert as he fought against the g-forces acting upon the Tomcat.

_"HE DID WHAT?", _yelled Wolfe as he jerked his head over to where his wingman was supposed to be.

"Yeah, he's speeding in at mach 1."

"Aww shit! _I Told Boss Saki That I Didn't Wanna Fly With This Guy! _Now we gotta go save his ass before he buys the damn farm. Crap!.", grumbled Wolfe as he reversed position and went after the wayward crew.

* * *

_Okay, this is just a preview of what I have so far for this chapter. I wanted to give the readers who've been waiting for so long a Christmas presen. Please enjoy. I Hope to have this hcapter finised by early next year. _

_Merry Christmas to All!_!

_Knightewolfe_

_Knightewolfe's Den_

_25 December 2011_


End file.
